Could you survive drinking light beer as your only liquid?!


Question: Or would you get too dehydrated? What level of alcohol would allow you to still get hydrated?


Answers: Or would you get too dehydrated? What level of alcohol would allow you to still get hydrated?

Paul is right. Beer does not dehydrate you, alcohol does. Beer is mostly water, and there is not enough alcohol compared to water to dehydrate you.

In fact one of the reasons the Mayflower stopped at Plymouth rock was to collect fresh water to make more beer ( it is written in their log books) there was no water carried on any ship in that day because it was, or would turn bad. Everyone including children were allotted a set amount of beer a day to keep hydrated.

Before modern technologies water a lot of water sources contained deadly microbes, the process of making beer included boiling the water, which killed the microbes. the people of the day did not understand that the boiling process is what made the beer (water) safe to drink so they attributed the good health to the beer. Many places in Europe and Great Britain did not drink water at all, but only beer and wine.

I'd guess that the alcohol level would have to be over 15% abv before there might be a problem, but probably much higher.

No, you cannot survive off of just beer. Surely someone with the complete scientific answer that I don't want to get into will chime in.

I would definitely be too dehydrated. I can only drink like 2 beers before feeling dehydrated. I have to have water ALL the time!

For a short time.

Yes. A long time ago in Britain, the water was so bad that people drank beer. There was no drinking age, and everyone would be drunk.

Absolutely not - you'd dehydrate due to alcohol (all forms) being a diuretic.

So far.... lol.

I drink water at work, thankfully.

Alcohol dehydrates you, so the water that you are getting from the brew will eventually not matter and the deficit will catch up with you.

I doubt it, maybe an O'Douls





The consumer Foods information on foodaq.com is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice or treatment for any medical conditions.
The answer content post by the user, if contains the copyright content please contact us, we will immediately remove it.
Copyright © 2007 FoodAQ - Terms of Use - Contact us - Privacy Policy

Food's Q&A Resources