Singapore Student Researchers Have Created a Beer That's Actually Good For You

To all Beer lovers out there, raise a glass to a team of student researchers in Singapore who have successfully shaped a beer that is potentially good for you.

The fresh brew with the objective of creating something a bit healthier has been pumped up with added probiotics (live bacteria and yeasts, usually found in yoghurts).

Research proves that probiotics are able to have beneficial effect on health, and effectively boost your immune system from viruses. With regards to this beer, these young scientists used a probiotic strain known as Lactobacillus paracasei L26, initially found in human intestines.

"The health benefits of probiotics are well known. While good bacteria are often present in food that have been fermented, there are currently no beers in the market that contain probiotics," said Chan Mei Zhi Alcine, a fourth year student at the National University of Singapore (NUS).

"Developing sufficient counts of live probiotics in beer is a challenging feat as beers contain hop acids that prevent the growth and survival of probiotics," she said.

"As a believer of achieving a healthy diet through consuming probiotics, this is a natural choice for me when I picked a topic for my final-year project," she said.

Miss Chan then created enough live probiotics to permeate a sour beer with the strain. She then tweaked up the fermentation procedure, describing her creation to have a "sharp and tart" flavour.

Research team will continue to work on the project and a patent has been filed protect the recipe of their probiotic beer by the National University of Singapore science team.