© Corbis

Dietary silicon can help maintain bone strength and keep connective tissues in good shape, and is found in grains such as oats and barley—which also happen to be key ingredients to brewing beer. Previous studies suggest that, as a rich source of silicon, beer, in moderate amounts, might help fight the bone degradation of conditions such as osteoporosis. To see just how much silicon can be derived from a few brews—and determine which types of grains yield the highest amount of dietary silicon—researchers from the Department of Food Science and Technology at the University of California, Davis, tested 100 commercial beers, as well as the raw ingredients used to brew. They found that, in commercial beers, average silicon content ranges from 6.4mg per liter to 56.5 mg per liter. (While neither the U.S. or U.K. governments recommend a certain amount of silicon intake per day, both do advise against excessive silicon consumption—the U.K.'s Food Standards Agency recommends that silicon intake not exceed 700 mg per day.)

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