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International Journal of Wine Business Research

ISSN : 1751-1062

Article publication date: 3 November 2021

Issue publication date: 5 May 2022

In recent years, the craft beer (CB) industry has gained impetus and has experienced significant growth in scientific publications. This study aims to present a systematic review of the literature on CB in areas related to economic and business sciences.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on the data from Scopus, Web of Science and a set of articles not indexed to these databases until June 2021, a total of 132 articles were included for analysis, using bibliometric and content analysis techniques.

The study allowed us to identify that CB has four main clusters/themes of research, namely, CB industry and market, marketing and branding, consumer behavior and sustainability. Detailed information on the clusters is provided. In addition, the results showed that publications addressing CB have grown significantly from 2015 onwards and are dispersed across many journals, with none assuming a clear leadership. Quantitative approaches account for more than half of publications.

Research limitations/implications

This study is a useful guide for academics intending to develop studies with CB. It provides a framework to structure future research by identifying existing literature clusters and proposes several research propositions.

Practical implications

The findings from this study are useful for CB companies to get an overview of the main issues affecting the CB industry and market to be able to adapt their strategies and stay aligned with market tendencies in the four main clusters identified.

Originality/value

This is the first systematic review of CB. Therefore, it provides a significant contribution to frame and strengthening the literature on CB and serves as a reference for future research. Based on the content analysis and cluster identification, the findings portray the status of current research. Accordingly, a set of research opportunities are offered.

• Consumer behaviour
• Globalization
• Systematic literature review
• Conceptual/theoretical

Acknowledgements

The authors thank NECE-UBI, Research Centre for Business Sciences, Research Centre funded by FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, IP, under the project UIDB/04630/2020.

Nave, E. , Duarte, P. , Rodrigues, R.G. , Paço, A. , Alves, H. and Oliveira, T. (2022), "Craft beer – a systematic literature review and research agenda", International Journal of Wine Business Research , Vol. 34 No. 2, pp. 278-307. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJWBR-05-2021-0029

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A comprehensive review of the benefits of drinking craft beer: Role of phenolic content in health and possible potential of the alcoholic fraction

Vicente amirpasha tirado-kulieva.

a Facultad de Ingeniería de Industrias Alimentarias y Biotecnología, Universidad Nacional de Frontera, Peru

Ernesto Hernández-Martínez

b Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad Nacional de Jaén, Peru

Hans Himbler Minchán-Velayarce

Sandra eloisa pasapera-campos, olivia magaly luque-vilca.

c Facultad de Ingeniería de Procesos Industriales, Universidad Nacional de Juliaca, Peru

Associated Data

No data was used for the research described in the article.

Currently, there is greater production and consumption of craft beer due to its appreciated sensory characteristics. Unlike conventional beer, craft beers provide better health benefits due to their varied and high content of phenolic compounds (PCs) and also due to their alcohol content, but the latter is controversial. The purpose of this paper was to report on the alcoholic fraction and PCs present in craft beers and their influence on health. Despite the craft beer boom, there are few studies on the topic; there is a lot of field to explore. The countries with the most research are the United States > Italy > Brazil > United Kingdom > Spain. The type and amount of PCs in craft beers depends on the ingredients and strains used, as well as the brewing process. It was determined that it is healthier to be a moderate consumer of alcohol than to be a teetotaler or heavy drinker. Thus, studies in vitro, with animal models and clinical trials on cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases, cancer, diabetes and obesity, osteoporosis and even the immune system suggest the consumption of craft beer. However, more studies with more robust designs are required to obtain more generalizable and conclusive results. Finally, some challenges in the production of craft beer were detailed and some alternative solutions were mentioned.

Graphical abstract

• • Craft beers have different styles that depend on unconventional ingredients.
• • Craft beer could dethrone conventional beer for its potential health benefits.
• • Probiotic, polyphenol-rich, low-alcohol craft beers are promising alternatives.
• • Laws that support craft brewers are needed to overcome barriers that limit production.
• • Craft beers are not pasteurized, but can be safe using non-thermal processes.

1. Introduction

Evidence indicates that beer was produced thousands of years before Christ ( Breda et al., 2022 ). Thanks to discoveries and changes in beer production around the world, it is now the most consumed alcoholic beverage ( Salantă et al., 2020a ). The brewing process is standard ( Aredes et al., 2021 ) with limited beer styles that do not meet the needs and preferences of consumers. As a result, beer production changed significantly in the early 1990s since the emergence of microbreweries in the US ( Legun et al., 2022 ). This led to the production of craft beers with more flavor such as India Pale Ale (IPA) beers and more bitterness such as Hazy IPA style beers ( Legun et al., 2022 ). New Zealand consumers (22–60 years old, 39% female) preferred novelty, intriguing and complex beers over ordinary, simple beers ( Cardello et al., 2016 ). Italian consumers (aged 18–72 years, 52% female) indicated that they prefer craft beers because of their remarkable authenticity (41.8% frequency), because they are more natural (22.9%) and tastier (22.3%) than commercial beers ( Lerro et al., 2020 ). Italian consumers (aged 25–40 years, 50% female) indicated that they prefer craft beer for its differentiated sensory characteristics ( Rivaroli et al., 2022 ). Authenticity, creativity and innovation characterize craft beers ( Breda et al., 2022 ). Fig. 1 shows a brief consensus on the characteristics of the craft brewery and craft beer.

Characteristics of craft breweries and craft beers. Prepared based on Březinová (2021) ; Jardim et al. (2018) ; Liguori et al. (2020) ; Morgan et al. (2022) ; The Beer Times (2022) .

In the beginning, beer was produced by a few companies ( Březinová, 2021 ) and this homogeneity forced more authentic beers to be produced. Historically, Jaeger et al. (2020) noted that the craft beer industry originated in the 1960s in the US when Fritz Maytag, a small brewery acquired the Anchor Steam Beer Company. One of the innovations implemented was the formulation of beers of different styles from non-conventional raw materials such as rice and corn, as well as other fruits and spices ( Jaeger et al., 2020 ). According to Milburn and Guertin-Martín (2020) , the craft beer industry was spurred by H.R Bill 1337 signed by President Jimmy Carter in 1978 to allow home brewing in the United States. They defended this hypothesis because approximately 90% of craft beer producers have started their business at home.

Industrial beer has an established place in the market, but the organoleptic quality and versatility of craft beer have allowed it to gain a place in consumer preferences ( Poveda, 2019 ). In 2016 there were more than 19 thousand breweries in the world and approximately 94% were considered craft breweries ( Baiano, 2021 ). What else would characterize craft beers? According to Salantă et al. (2020b) , the consumption of foods/drinks that have health benefits is booming. A scientific mapping detected that past research focused on the brewing process, but current publications would focus on human health ( Pallottino et al., 2020 ). Moderate consumption of beer provides health benefits due to its nutritional value and mainly bioactive content, represented by phenolic compounds (PCs) ( Burini et al., 2021 ). The ethanol content of beers has also been associated to the prevention of diseases ( Osorio-Paz et al., 2020 ).

It is not intended to replace or compete with wine, which is also considered to provide health benefits, or other foods rich in PCs. On the contrary, taking advantage of the fact that beer consumption is approximately 4, 5 and 7 times higher than the consumption of cider, spirits and wine, respectively ( STATISTA, 2022 ), offering craft beers with better characteristics is shown as a healthier alternative. In this scenario, the purpose of this study was to conduct a review on the PCs present in craft beers. The main findings on the influence of PCs on health were emphasized, also discussing the role of the alcoholic fraction. It should be clarified that part of the information shown is based on data on industrial beers, since information on craft beers is very scarce.

2. Worldwide interest in craft beer

Fig. 2 shows that the field of craft beers is still under-explored (584 papers), but research is increasing exponentially (R 2 : 0.8998) with the maximum peak in 2020 (110 papers). A bibliometric study detected that researchers focused more on craft beer science since 2015, but participation is transient (in many cases with only one publication per author), indicating that the field of study is not highly developed ( Durán-Sánchez et al., 2022 ). In the last 5 years (period 2018–2022), the number of published papers is more than 70% of the total number of articles. More than 70% of papers are original articles and only ≈5% are review articles; therefore, this study is necessary. Therefore, this study is necessary to summarize recent research on the field of study and present the current scenario with critical perspectives. The five countries with the highest scientific production on the topic are: United States > Italy > Brazil > United Kingdom > Spain. Similar results were shown in Baiano (2021) : United States > Italy > Britain > Brazil > Australia > France > Spain > Canada. The advantage of the United States (30% of total documents) is because it is the largest beer producer after China. With 8386 craft breweries, the United States produced 13.6% of the total volume of beer ( Brewers Association, 2020 ). Baiano (2021) pointed out that countries with large beer productions such as Mexico, China, Belgium, Ireland and the Czech Republic have few publications about craft beer. Interestingly, in countries with strong brewing industries, the craft beer market is developing slowly ( Baiano, 2021 ). The production of conventional beers (and the number of breweries) and craft beers is not proportional and the number of microbreweries is not as important as their size because it directly influences production. Czech Republic with more than 410 craft breweries in 2019 and Ireland with 75 craft breweries had a market share of 2% in 2019 ( Březinová, 2021 ) and 2.8% in 2017 ( McMahon, 2019 ), respectively. On the other hand, in countries such as Belgium, large beer companies tend to absorb craft breweries and the products become just another variety in the catalog ( Poelmans and Swinnen, 2018 ). This affects interest in craft beers and their research, as consumers believe they are industrially produced. In China, craft beer production is limited because it is difficult to acquire quality local ingredients, so imports significantly increase production costs ( Li et al., 2018 ). In addition, since there are no laws designed specifically for craft breweries, microbrewers must follow the stringent regulations for industrial producers ( Li et al., 2018 ). Similarly, Mexican government measures such as the application of a 26.5% special tax on the production and sale of beer regardless of the size of the brewery blocked the growing production of craft beer ( Baiano, 2021 ).

Number of publications on craft beer in Scopus. Search string: Title-Abstract-Keywords (“craft beer” OR “artisanal beer”). Only English-language documents published until December 2022.

Fig. 3 shows a map with all the countries that have contributed to the topic. In Africa, only South Africa (10 papers) and barely Kenya (1) show scientific production. Sub-Saharan Africa is primarily the least developed region in beer research; however, in recent years the African market has attracted the attention of the brewing industry, which is looking to expand ( Rogerson, 2019 ). This was because Africa began to produce craft beers with indigenous ingredients, very different from the craft beers produced in the rest of the world ( Rogerson, 2019 ). The emergence began in the craft beer sector in South Africa. This is associated with the results obtained, as scientific production in South Africa started in 2017, but growth is slow. Similarly, many Asian countries lack scientific production, but are now part of the craft beer market ( Baiano, 2021 ). Therefore, we hope that in the coming years more countries will join the research on this topic.

Scientific production worldwide. The bar indicates publications by country according to color. The map was made with Datawrapper (Datawrapper GmbH, Berlin, Germany) according to the results obtained from the Scopus search. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the Web version of this article.)

3. Compounds of interest in beer

Beer is rich in carbohydrates (≤6.1 g/100 mL), proteins (0.3–0.5 g/100 mL) vitamins (up to 30 mg vitamin C/100 mL) and minerals (up to 110 mg potassium/100 mL) ( Mellor et al., 2020 ). Based on the evaluation of beers from Asia, South America and Europe, the consumption of 500 mL can provide up to 15.5% of the daily calcium requirement according to U.S. standards, and phosphorus, potassium and chlorine can provide up to 3% of the daily value ( Styburski et al., 2018 ). Chromium (8.87 mg/L), arsenic (8.81 mg/L), selenium (4.14 mg/L), barium (90.72 mg/L), and lead (9.98 mg/L) were identified in Brazilian beers ( Moreira et al., 2006 ). It was also reported that beers have vitamins A, D, E, K and C, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B6, folate, vitamin B12, biotin, magnesium, ion, sodium, zinc, selenium ( Sohrabvandi et al., 2012 ), chloride, silica, sodium, magnesium, copper and manganese ( Habschied et al., 2020 ).

Beer is also rich in phytochemicals and is noted for its high content of PCs (12–52 mg/100 mL) ( Mellor et al., 2020 ). The PCs identified in different craft beers are shown in Table 1 . It was determined that the total phenolic content (TPC) of Brazilian craft beers can cover from 0.2 to 11% of the daily intake value (460.15 mg/day) ( Silva et al., 2021 ). In turn, the amount and type of phenols present in craft beer significantly influences its sensory characteristics ( Ambra et al., 2021 ).

Identification of PCs in craft beers from different countries.

LC: liquid chromatography, HPLC: high performance liquid chromatography, QTOF: quadrupole time-of-flight, MS: mass spectroscopy, DAD: diode array detector, ESI: electrospray ionization, PDA: photodiode array detector.

Ethanol is also a crucial compound in beer and has been positively associated with flavor and aroma ( Mellor et al., 2020 ), the content of which can vary between 4 and 6% in craft beers ( Brewers Association, 2011 ), depending on the ingredients used as well as the type of strain ( Table 2 ). Low-alcohol or non-alcoholic beers can also be produced. When a wheat beer was dealcoholized, the alcohol content decreased from 5.31 to 0.05% vol ( Müller et al., 2021 ). The alcohol content in a quinoa beer fermented with Pichia myanmarensis ranged from 0.27 to 0.48% vol ( Prasad et al., 2022 ).

Alcohol content, TPC and AA in craft beers.

N.I.: No information; AF: Addition before fermentation; DF: Addition after fermentation; IC 50 : half maximum inhibitory concentration. *DPPH assay, ** ABTS assay, *** Not specified.

Considering that conventional beer has nutrients and bioactive compounds of interest, depending on innovation in ingredients and processes, craft beers with better characteristics can be developed, which will be shown in the following sections.

4. Determinants of craft beer composition: emphasis on PCs

The presence and amount of nutrients and bioactive compounds (mainly PCs) in beer depends on ingredients such as malted grains and cereals (barley, wheat, oats and rice), hops, adjuncts such as fruits and spices, and microbes ( Saccharomyces yeasts or co-fermenting bacteria of the genus Lactobacillus ) ( Simone et al., 2021 ). The main PCs in beer are obtained from malt and hops ( Salantă et al., 2020a ). The most representative PCs are xanthohumol (XH), isoxanthohumol (IXH) and other prenylflavonoids such as 6-prenylnaringenin (6-PN) and 8-prenylnaringenin (8-PN), which are obtained from hops ( Fig. 4 ) ( Osorio-Paz et al., 2020 ).

Main PCs in beer obtained from hops.

The objective of diversification in craft brewing is to obtain products with unique aromas, colors and flavors, but also with health benefits like other PC-rich foods. For example, antioxidant activity (AA) varied significantly in craft beers fermented with different S . cerevisiae strains ( Postigo et al., 2021 ). Viana et al. (2021) evaluated the influence of four S . cerevisiae strains on PCs and AA of Pale Ale-style craft beers; a better polyphenolic profile and higher AA were obtained with strain US-05. Postigo et al. (2021) brewed craft beer with more than 100 strains of the genus Saccharomyces and the results were compared with beers brewed with the commercial yeast S . cerevisiae Safale S-04. Strain G 520 produced the highest amount of melatonin (a hormone with antioxidant properties) and provided higher AA ( Postigo et al., 2021 ). The incorporation of the probiotic yeast S . cerevisiae boulardii in craft beers brewed with traditional S . cerevisiae increased TPC and AA ( Capece et al., 2018 ).

Regarding the use of alternative ingredients, Nardini and Garaguso (2020) brewed craft beers with 8 different fruits/fruit by-products; TPC, total flavonoid content and AA were higher by 32.3, 51.33 and 42.73%, respectively, compared to commercial beers. Filho et al. (2021) evaluated the influence of spice addition on TPC and AA of green (15 days post-bottling) and aged (196 days post-bottling) red ale craft beers. The highest TPC (295 and 221 mg gallic acid equivalents (GAE)/L), the best AA by DPPH (0.65 and 0.56 mmol Trolox equivalent (ET)/L) and FRAP (408 and 350 mmol ET/L) assay in green and aged craft beers were obtained by adding turmeric extract (25 and 50%) + black pepper extract (37.5 and 20%) + aromatic hops (37.5 and 30%) ( Filho et al., 2021 ). The addition of leaves (0.1 and 0.5%) or extract (0.05 and 0.1%) of Ocimum selloi before or after fermentation in the brewing of a Pilsner craft beer increased TPC from 291.2 to 360.6–371.9 μg GAE/mL and AA from 45.1 to 50.3–82.5% ( Piva et al., 2021 ).

5. PCs and AA of craft beers

AA is especially attributed to the PCs content, which are found in proportions of approximately 70% in barley and 30% in hops ( Capece et al., 2018 ). As mentioned, in craft beers, non-conventional ingredients are also a rich source of PCs (and AA), but hops are not usually substituted for their bitterness and characteristic PCs: XH, IXH, 6-PN and 8-PN. Table 2 shows the TPC and AA of different craft beers. Horn et al. (2021) determined the content of flavonoids and tannins in Brazilian craft beers, ranging from 0.84 to 3.06 mg quercetin equivalents (QE)/mL and 0.63–1.40 mg GAE/mL, respectively. The AA value (DPPH assay) ranged from 38.50 to 73.82% and correlated strongly with TPC ( Horn et al., 2021 ). The TPC of Italian craft beers ranged from 65.6 to 105.3 μg/kg ( Cortese et al., 2020 ). The TPC, total flavonoid content, AA by FRAP, ABTS and ORAC assay of craft beers from Chile, United Kingdom, Hawaii, and Denmark ranged from 503.97 to 1366.85 mg GAE/L, 439.23–716.15 mg EQ/L, 1.28–4.12 mmol ET/L, 1.32–2.74 mmol ET/L, and 4.71–28.75 mmol ET/L, respectively ( Bustos et al., 2019 ). TPC, ortho-diphenols and flavonoids in craft beers from Portugal ranged from 303 to 1614 g AG/mL, 106–2216 g AG/mL, and 54–750 g catechin (CAT)/mL, respectively. AA by DPPH and ABTS assay was between 0.850 and 12.109 mmol Trolox/L, and 1.142 and 10.913 mmol Trolox/L, respectively ( Breda et al., 2022 ).

The total flavonoid content of craft beers brewed with sweet potato variety Beauregard (30–70%) was 16.02–21.31 mg EQ/L ( Humia et al., 2019 ). AA by ABTS and FRAP assay of a non-alcoholic craft beer with 10% red-colored Cornelian cherry juice was approximately 1.3 and 1.8 μmol ET/L, respectively ( Adamenko et al., 2020 ). AA by ABTS and FRAP assay of craft beers with juice and fruit (10% each) of hawthorn was approximately 2.04 and 1.35, and 1.36 and 0.87 mmol ET/L, respectively ( Gasiński et al., 2020b ). AA by ABTS and FRAP assay of craft beers with mango juice and pulp (20% each) was approximately 1.74 and 1.69, and 1.25 and 1.32 mmol ET/L, respectively ( Gasiński et al., 2020a ). Total flavonoid content and AA by FRAP and ORAC assay in craft beers with addition of Parastrephia lucida leaves (0.1–5%) ranged from 0.35 to 0.60 mg/mL, from 2.17 to 5.46 mmol ET/L, and from 10.14 to 30.58 mmol ET/L, respectively ( Bustos et al., 2019 ). The total flavonoid content of craft beers brewed with rice malt or rice malt with defatted rice bran was 2.73 and 5.34 mg/L, respectively ( Prestes et al., 2019 ).

6. Health benefits of craft beer consumption: Role of phenolic compounds and ethanol

PCs are widely studied for their ability to scavenge reactive oxygen species and free radicals that cause oxidative damage and cellular stress ( Vazquez-Cervantes et al., 2021 ). Caon et al. (2021) analyzed the influence of moderate consumption of commercial beer and craft beer for 30 days on redox status and liver integrity of Wistar rats exposed to carbon tetrachloride. Craft beers had higher TPC (catechin, rutin, epicatechin, caffeic acid and isoxanthohumol) and AA than traditional beers. Neither beer had harmful effects on the organism of the rats, but neither did they have a hepatoprotective effect. However, imperial red craft beer increased the enzymatic and non-enzymatic redox state; the activity of catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase 2 (SOD2) and SOD3 was enhanced ( Caon et al., 2021 ).

It is known that excessive ethanol consumption generates harmful effects on human health due to its toxicity; for example, the incidence of cirrhosis was positively correlated with alcohol intake in women in the United Kingdom ( Simpson et al., 2019 ). Healthy men and women (mean age of 29.4 years) drank (330 mL/day for 3 weeks) industrial (11.9 g ethanol) and craft beer (23.8 g ethanol) with similar folate, vitamin B6 and B12 content, but different ethanol concentration ( Rossi et al., 2021 ). Consumption of industrial beer reduced homocysteine levels in the blood, while consumption of craft beer increased the concentration due to the higher ethanol content ( Rossi et al., 2021 ). Moderate ethanol consumption has been linked with multiple health benefits ( Osorio-Paz et al., 2020 ); therefore, the consumption of craft beer (with low alcohol concentration) may be more beneficial than it appears. People who consume alcohol moderately and gradually have a lower risk of different diseases and a lower mortality rate compared to those who do not consume alcohol (or other alcoholic beverage) or those who consume alcohol in excess.

Despite the findings presented, the discussion continues as to whether or not it is beneficial to consume non-alcoholic beers. It should be considered that there are vulnerable people who cannot consume alcohol regardless of the dose, such as children, adolescents, pregnant women, people with certain heart, liver or pancreatic diseases. In this section, health benefits provided by the consumption of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beers (mainly craft beer) are mentioned in order to have a broad overview on the individual and/or synergistic effect of PCs (highlighting those obtained from hops) and ethanol. There are several studies on the brewing of craft beers, but they focus on sensory and physicochemical characteristics, nutrient content and bioactive compounds. Since studies on the influence of the consumption of craft beers on health are scarce, studies on beer and related beverages will be shown to serve for discussion and to suggest the potential of craft beers.

Because the design of the studies is often questioned, we show all the details of the animal and human studies in Table S1 and provide our opinion in the corresponding section. First, most studies are in vitro (mainly in the Cancer section) because they are relatively inexpensive and simple, but do not simulate the conditions and metabolic changes in the organism. There are also a considerable number of studies with rat and mouse models because they grow rapidly, are tractable and share high genetic similarities with humans, so the results can be easily extrapolated. To be applicable to humans, the experiments must be prolonged, the sample must be large and with varied characteristics, namely age, diet, physiological state and microflora, which were not met in many of the studies evaluated. For example, Seitz et al. (2021) (Cancer section) selected a sample of only 17 mice (10 in the control group and 7 in the intervention group) aged 10 weeks, did not mention lifestyle or diet before or during the intervention, and the experiment lasted only 11 days. Another problem is that the studies do not specify important data such as sample number like the study by Park et al. (2022) (Diabetes and obesity section) whose design was complete (according to the characteristics we evaluated), but the experiment lasted 4 days. Thus, the studies do not evaluate long-term outcomes. All studies with rat and mouse models were carried out under controlled environmental conditions, but it would be ideal to evaluate different conditions to obtain more generalizable results.

On the other hand, clinical trials or in vivo studies in humans are rare because they are more complex and are generally performed after several in vitro and in vivo studies. As in in vivo studies, the participants, the intervention and the conditions before and during the intervention must meet several characteristics (geographic location, race/ethnicity, gender, age, number and frequency of doses). Only studies on cardiovascular diseases and with incomplete designs were found, such as Bassus et al. (2004) who examined 12 subjects (only men) and the intervention only lasted 3 h; they did not mention the type of study, standardization and monitoring of lifestyle or diet during the intervention. Alvarez et al. (2009a) only included female participants, did not mention age range or standardization of lifestyle or diet before the intervention, and only included non-alcoholic beers as samples. The range of duration between studies was from 3 h to 45 days and although the lifestyle or diet during the intervention was standardized, the nature of the study limits the control of environmental conditions, which would lead to inconclusive results. We note another feature that would affect the robustness of the study. Padro et al. (2018) monitored compliance with the adaptation period, intervention, and lifestyle or diet during the intervention by telephone contact and an interview at the end of the intervention, and although they were meticulous with the details, the validity of the results depends on the responsibility of the participants. In summary, since the study designs were not described in detail and had shortcomings, although the findings would support the beneficial effects of craft beer they should be approached with caution.

6.1. Cardiovascular diseases

The cardioprotective effect of PCs and ethanol has been reported. According to studies in rats, different PCs have decreased the concentration of plasma cholesterol in the blood, bad cholesterol (LDL) and triglyceride levels, in addition to preventing thrombosis and atherosclerosis, decreasing platelet aggregation, and reducing the risks of myocardial infarction ( Scalbert et al., 2005 ). PCs also increase plasma nitric oxide levels leading to a lower risk of cardiovascular disease ( Fernández-Solà, 2015 ). With respect to ethanol, it prevents atherosclerosis and reduces the risk of heart disease by inhibiting platelet aggregation and improving fibrinogenesis in the blood. It also improves lipid metabolism, lowering cholesterol and triglyceride levels ( Sohrabvandi et al., 2012 ).

The consumption of etanol (4%), alcoholic beer (4%) and non-alcoholic beer (1 L/h for 3 h) by men (aged 19–36 years) reduced thrombin generation, monocyte platelet aggregate and the expression of the platelet activation marker CD62 and activated fibrinogen receptor ( Bassus et al., 2004 ). Alcoholic beer had the same effects in addition to showing procoagulant action ( Bassus et al., 2004 ). For 4 weeks, men (mean age of 61 years) consumed 660 mL of alcoholic beer per day (30 g etanol, 1209 mg PCs) or 990 mL of non-alcoholic beer per day (<1 g ethanol, 1243 mg PCs) ( Chiva-Blanch et al., 2015 ). There were no changes in the glucose profile, adiposity or weight of the individuals. By PCs content, non-alcoholic beer consumption reduced proinflammatory cytokines and leukocyte adhesion molecules. Due to ethanol, alcoholic beer improved the lipid profile ( Chiva-Blanch et al., 2015 ). Non-alcoholic beer (250 mL/twice a day for 45 days) reduced carbonyl group and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances in plasma of women (mean age of 64.5 years) ( Alvarez et al., 2009b ). The concentration of antioxidants such as α-tocopherol and erythrocyte glutathione was increased and the lipid profile was improved ( Alvarez et al., 2009b ). Daily consumption (for 1 month) of 660 mL of alcoholic beer (30 g ethanol, 1208 mg PCs) or 660 mL of non-alcoholic beer (ethanol free and 828 mg PCs) in men and half in women (both aged 40–60 years) did not generate changes in weight or other aspects of health ( Padro et al., 2018 ). Consumption of both beers reduced the oxidative susceptibility of LDL cholesterol and enhanced the antioxidant properties of good cholesterol (HDL). Consumption of alcoholic beer promoted cholesterol efflux ( Padro et al., 2018 ).

Men (mean age of 61 years) with high cardiovascular risk consumed 660 mL of alcoholic or non-alcoholic beer (with an equivalent TPC) or gin (with an equivalent ethanol content) per day for 4 weeks, finding that the consumption of both beers considerably increased the number of endothelial progenitor cells, but gin consumption did not cause this effect ( Chiva-Blanch et al., 2014 ). Because of this, the positive effect was attributed to ethanol of the beers ( Chiva-Blanch et al., 2014 ). This also occurred when healthy men (mean age of 25 years) exposed to oxygen-induced arterial stiffness and oxidative stress consumed beer, wine or vodka ( Krnic et al., 2011 ). All beverages provided protection against arterial stiffness, but only wine provided defense against oxidative stress due to its high TPC (2.5 g GAE/L) compared to beer (0.4 g GAE/L) ( Krnic et al., 2011 ). Neto et al. (2017) determined that beers with higher TPC provided more pronounced vasodilator effects.

Regarding studies in animal models, the intake of craft beer fortified (for 4 weeks) with XH was evaluated in male Wistar rats with induced pulmonary arterial hypertension ( Silva et al., 2019 ). Pulmonary vascular remodeling (mainly in the right ventricle) was observed; ethanol consumption (5.2%) was also evaluated, but did not show significant beneficial effects ( Silva et al., 2019 ). Non-alcoholic beer consumption (42 mL/kg body weight per day) for 20 weeks in knockout mice provided protection against atherosclerosis ( Martinez et al., 2011 ).

6.2. Cancer

There is sufficient evidence to show that beer or craft beer consumption helps to counteract carcinogenesis. According to animal and human studies, beer intake prevents tumor growth and metastasis by inhibiting angiogenesis, a nutrient and oxygen supply process necessary for the growth of malignant tumors ( Sohrabvandi et al., 2012 ). This potential is due to the chemopreventive, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant characteristics of prenylflavonoids and bitter acids (α or humulones and β or lupulones) from hops ( Osorio-Paz et al., 2020 ). This is based on the induction of detoxifying enzymes and inhibition of the metabolism of procarcinogens; PCs can inhibit inflammation- and cancer-related transcription factors: NF-κB, TGF-β, TNF-α and vascular endothelial growth factor ( Serwe et al., 2012 ; Negrão et al., 2013 ). It was also reported that they can induce tumor apoptosis, preventing tumor formation or growth ( Scalbert et al., 2005 ). In addition, in the early stages PCs can inhibit inflammatory signals of angiogenesis ( Sohrabvandi et al., 2012 ). Low alcohol content in craft beers or moderate consumption may also promote decreased cancer risk. In a study involving analysis of data from 19,149 cases and 362,340 controls worldwide, lung cancer risk was not associated with light or moderate consumption of alcoholic beverages, but was associated with heavy consumption ( Brenner et al., 2019 ). However, in a multiethnic cohort study with data from 190,698 participants, beer and wine consumption was associated with colorectal cancer risk ( Park et al., 2019 ).

Administration of different PCs in animal models before or after the application of a carcinogenic agent reduced the number/size of tumors located in the stomach, mouth, colon, kidney, skin, liver, breast, etc. ( Osorio-Paz et al., 2020 ). Specifically, moderate consumption of alcoholic or non-alcoholic beer, or supplementation of compounds such as XH, IXH, 6- and 8-PN have been successful as a potential therapeutic treatment or to prevent the risk of leukemia, cholangiocarcinoma, breast, laryngeal, colon, kidney, prostate and pancreatic cancer ( Infante-Rivard et al., 2002 ; Busch et al., 2015 ; Li et al., 2016 ; Saito et al., 2018 ) in vitro, in rats/mice or in humans. Table 3 shows further studies in vitro and with results based on the IC 50 value.

Anticancer effect of beer intake or its compounds on different cell lines.

Administration of xanthohumol (10 mg/kg/day for 11 days) inhibited the growth of melanoma metastasis in the liver in mice (10 weeks old) ( Seitz et al., 2021 ). Administration of a formulation based on malts and hops (3–300 mg/kg/day for 14 weeks, 5 times per week) showed a protective effect on the first and second phase of colon cancer in mice ( Tedesco et al., 2021 ).

6.3. Neurodegenerative diseases

Light or moderate alcohol consumption influenced the reduction of dementia in people older than 54 years ( Sohrabvandi et al., 2012 ). One study evaluated the effect of consumption of beer, wine or spirits (with equivalent volume of alcohol) on the incidence of dementia in women aged 38–68 years ( Mehlig et al., 2008 ). Wine was associated with greater longevity and lower incidence of dementia, beer showed the same potential, but to a lesser extent, and spirits did not show these properties ( Mehlig et al., 2008 ). In a similar study, only the intake (weekly and monthly) of wine was linked with a lower risk of dementia in people over 64 years because it has a higher amount of PCs than beer, considering a traditional beer, since a craft beer may have higher phenolic potential ( Truelsen et al., 2002 ). Regular consumption of alcoholic beverages was found to be healthier than being a abstainer or heavy drinker.

The consumption of non-alcohol beer (5 mL/day for 3 months, 0.9% v/v) was also evaluated in rats intoxicated with aluminum nitrate ( Merino et al., 2018 ). Beer inhibited in vitro the activity of acetylcholinesterase and activated in vivo the transcription factor Nrf2, which is associated with the expression of detoxifying agents and antioxidants, thus providing protection against neurodegenerative effects due to intoxication and stabilizing/improving the rats' behavior ( Merino et al., 2018 ). Extracts of dark beer > non-alcoholic beer > lager beer showed a high potential against induced oxidative stress and cell death in human and rat cancer cell lines, in addition to properly modulating adenosine receptors ( Alonso-Andrés et al., 2019 ). Old mice treated with 1 or 5 mg XH/kg daily for 30 days had a significant reduction of proinflammatory cytokines and proapoptotic markers, protecting against age-related brain damage ( Rancán et al., 2017 ). Craft beer consumption (6–7 mL/day for 4 months) improved cognitive functions of mice (8 weeks old) by reducing the amount of amyloid peptides and inflammatory cytokines ( Cecarini et al., 2022 ).

6.4. Diabetes and obesity

In vitro and in vivo experiments have shown properties of PCs to prevent or combat various metabolic disorders. Diabetes and obesity were emphasized in this section because of the relationship between them. As mentioned in the Cardiovascular Diseases section, the literature states that craft beer consumption (due to its alcoholic fraction and mainly due to the polyphenolic fraction) could help to reduce triglyceride and bad cholesterol (LDL) levels, in addition to increasing good cholesterol (HDL) levels. PCs can stimulate glucose uptake, induce insulin release by pancreatic β-cells and even inhibit gluconeogenesis ( Scalbert et al., 2005 ). XH, IXH, 6-PN and 8-PN helped to improve adipocyte metabolism and glucose tolerance in mice with obesity and diabetes ( Everard et al., 2012 ).

Lima-Fontes et al. (2017) analyzed the effect of supplementation with ethanol, stout beer or stout beer with 10 mg XH/L for 5 weeks in Wistar rats with induced type I diabetes. In contrast to treatment with stout beer or ethanol, XH-enriched stout beer prevented alterations in the catabolic state of the liver ( Lima-Fontes et al., 2017 ). When XH (2.5 mg/kg bw/day for 8 weeks) was fed to mice, glucose intolerance and body weight gain were inhibited ( Mahli et al., 2019 ). The expression of inflammatory markers and alpha collagen was reduced, in addition to decreased immune cell infiltration and the activation of hepatic stellate cells ( Mahli et al., 2019 ). Costa et al. (2017) evaluated the effect of supplementation with XH (10 mg/L) or 8-PN (10 mg/L) for 20 weeks in mice fed a high-fat diet plus + 0.1% ethanol. Both treatments prevented body weight gain, lowered blood glucose, cholesterol, triglyceride and LDL levels, increased HDL levels and improved insulin sensitivity. Specifically, acetyl-CoA carboxylase activity and lipogenic enzyme expression were decreased by inducing skeletal muscle and hepatic AMPK activation. Other signaling pathways related to fatty acid uptake were also modulated ( Costa et al., 2017 ). In another study, XH intake (0.3 or 0.6 mg/kg bw/day for 12 weeks) in mice reduced their body weight gain, glucose, cholesterol, triglyceride and LDL levels. The effects were XH dose-dependent, unlike the increase in HLD, as the lower dose had a greater effect than the higher dose ( Miranda et al., 2016 ). Administration of 8-PN (50 mg/kg/day for 4 days) in mice (7 weeks old) showed anti-diabetic effect by regulating glucose homeostasis ( Park et al., 2022 ).

6.5. Osteoporosis

Beer can reduce the risk of osteoporosis due to its content of PCs, bitter acids and also because it is a good source of silicon ( Sohrabvandi et al., 2012 ). In in vitro and in vivo studies, treatment with various PCs restored or decreased bone mineral density loss, increased the number of osteoblasts and reduced dentin resorption ( Scalbert et al., 2005 ). It was also reported that moderate ethanol consumption helped prevent the development of osteoporosis ( Redondo et al., 2018 ). Moderate consumption of beer and wine increased bone mineral density in the lumbar spine and hip in men (mean age of 61.5 years), premenopausal women (mean age of 48.3 years) and postmenopausal women (mean age of 62.5 years) compared to abstainers ( Tucker et al., 2009 ). In constrast, the consumption of liquor (high levels of alcohol) produced negative effects on the bone mineral density of the participants ( Tucker et al., 2009 ). Hops extract (1 or 2 g/kg/day/2 months, [6 days per week]) provided protection against osteoporosis in mice (9 weeks old) by inhibiting oxidative stress and β-amyloid deposition ( Xia et al., 2023 ).

Studies in human cells analyzed the effect of XH as a therapeutic treatment for osteoclast-associated diseases ( Jeong et al., 2011 ; Suh et al., 2013 ; Li et al., 2016 ). XH prevented the formation of early stage osteoclasts and also stimulated their differentiation by regulating the RUNX2 gene. Osteoblast activity was also inactivated, preventing bone resorption and destruction due to the ability of XH to inhibit the NF-κB and Ca 2+ /NFATc1 signaling pathway, preventing the expression of osteoclastogenesis-related transcription factors and the expression of osteoclast genes linked with bone resorption. Finally, XH induced the expression of osteogenic marker genes ( Jeong et al., 2011 ; Suh et al., 2013 ; Li et al., 2016 ). These properties are of interest to prevent diseases such as arthritis, periodontitis and osteoporosis.

6.6. Immune system

For many years, oxidation and inflammation have been associated with multiple diseases. Inflammation is the immune system's response to face attacks from internal or external agents. Inflammatory responses generate oxidative stress which, in turn, aggravates the severity of the inflammatory state. Based on Vazquez-Cervantes et al. (2021) , the correct coordination of adaptive and innate immune responses achieves control of the initiated inflammation, which leads to homeostasis of the organism. If inflammation occurs in excess, various age-related disorders (oxidative stress and aging) may develop. Compounds with high antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and/or immunomodulatory activity are currently of interest. These characteristics are fulfilled by the compounds present in beer and mainly in craft beer.

Moderate alcohol consumption in healthy adults (330 mL/day for women and twice as much for men for one month) increased immunoglobulin G, M and A (IgG, IgM and IgA) and anti-inflammatory cytokines IL-2, -4 and -10 ( Romeo et al., 2007 ). It also increased the production of IFN-γ and CD3 + lymphocytes, but only in women ( Romeo et al., 2007 ). In another study, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beer decreased the production of proinflammatory cytokines ( Chiva-Blanch et al., 2015 ).

In in vivo and in vitro assays, treatments with hop extracts rich in PCs and bitter acids modulated the levels of proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines. Mitigation of signaling pathways such as TLR2 and TLR4, repolarization of proinflammatory macrophage M1 to anti-inflammatory macrophage M2 and decreased levels of inflammatory markers such NO, COX-2 enzyme and PGE2 were reported ( Hougee et al., 2006 ; Lupinacci et al., 2009 ; Schink et al., 2018 ). Specifically, XH also showed these properties by preventing or ameliorating ulcerative colitis and osteoarthritis in human cells and in mice ( Cho et al., 2018 ; Chen et al., 2021 ).

On the other hand, according to Yoo et al. (2020) ; Zheng et al. (2020) , the microbiome plays a role in the development of components (proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins) of the immune system, while the immune system sets the stage for symbiosis between host and microorganisms. Homeostasis and diseases depend on the microbiota-immune system interaction and, in turn, on the environmental conditions of the host, diet, lifestyle, etc. If the balance is disturbed, irregular immune responses could cause inflammation and oxidative damage, or they can also induce the proliferation of pathogens and lead to infections ( Yoo et al., 2020 ; Zheng et al., 2020 ).

In the craft beer scenario, probiotics provide health benefits to consumers due to their role in the gut microbiota. S . boulardii is the most widely used probiotic, it is safe, efficient, with higher resistance, better immunomodulatory and antimicrobial properties ( Pais et al., 2020 ). S . boulardii is shown to be the ideal fermenter or co-fermenter for probiotic craft beers (with and without alcohol) with high numbers of viable cells, higher AA and PCs content, and improved sensory characteristics ( Capece et al., 2018 ; Mulero-Cerezo et al., 2019 ; Palomino-Vasco et al., 2019 ; Senkarcinova et al., 2019 ; Silva et al., 2019 , 2021 ; Pereira de Paula et al., 2021 ). S . boulardii regulates the gut microbiota by producing antimicrobial metabolites and some with immunomodulatory activity ( Canani et al., 2011 ; Mellor et al., 2020 ). Regarding other probiotics, craft beer was successfully brewed with S . cerevisiae S-04 and Lactobacillus paracasei L26 ( Canani et al., 2011 ). The polyphenolic content also positively influences the gut microbiota. The intake of PCs induces the production of short-chain fatty acids, which improves intestinal permeability, reduces intestinal inflammation and endotoxemia ( Redondo et al., 2018 ).

Consumption of gin (without PCs) in excess increased bacteria of the genus Clostridium in the gut microbiota ( Quesada-Molina et al., 2019 ). Consumption of alcoholic beer or non-alcoholic beer (355 mL per day for 30 days) favored the proliferation of Bacteroidetes , indicating a well-balanced microbiota. Alcohol in beer reduced the enrichment effect of microbiota diversity ( Hernández-Quiroz et al., 2020 ). González-Zancada et al. (2020) determined that moderate beer consumption reduced the population of Clostridiaceae and increased the population of Blautia , Pseudobutyrivibrio , Butyrivibrio and Johnsonella . Abstainers or occasional beer consumers showed no changes in the diversity of their microbiota ( González-Zancada et al., 2020 ). In this case, the PCs acted as prebiotics that enrich the beneficial microorganisms ( Quesada-Molina et al., 2019 ) causing the inhibition of the proliferation of pathogens ¿. According to the evaluation of phenolic acids in beer, they are absorbed in the gastrointestinal tract and remain in the blood after metabolism ( Nardini et al., 2006 ). Likewise, XH administration regulated the gut microbiota in a mouse model ( Liu et al., 2022 ) and in humans ( Langley et al., 2021 ). The consumption of different beers positively modulated the composition of gut microbiota in humans and the effect was positively associated with the content of PCs ( Martínez-Montoro et al., 2022 ).

7. Current challenges and future outlook

PCs impart unique sensory characteristics to beers in general, but some can cause undesirable flavor and aroma. Guaiacol imparts a clove flavor, which is undesirable in some beers ( Postigo et al., 2021 ). Similarly, isovaleric acid, 4-ethylphenol, 4-ethylcatechol and 4-ethylguaiacol are responsable for aromas or flavors of band-aids, antiseptic, smoked bacon, cloves, spice, barnyard, horse stable, rancidity, cheese and sweaty animals in fermented beverages such as beer ( Alston et al., 2021 ). In this context, even if a craft beer is rich in PCs and with potential health benefits, the ingredients and operating parameters must be carefully controlled so that it is also sensorially pleasing.

Craft beer may also contain compounds that are harmful to health because it is not pasteurized, despite the use of different ingredients in its preparation. Biogenic amines stand out because they can cause hypotension, hypertension, migraine, gastrointestinal distress and pseudoanaphylaxis ( Koller and Perkins, 2022 ). Tyramine > putrescine > cadaverine > histamine > phenylethylamine was detected in Central European craft beers and in higher concentrations at the end of the best before date ( Lorencová et al., 2020 ). In craft beer samples from Spain, agmatine > ethanolamine > putrescine > tyramine was detected ( Palomino-Vasco et al., 2019 ) and in another study putrescine > tyramine > histamine > cadaverine > tryptamine > 2-phenylethylamine was detected ( Poveda, 2019 ). Other toxic compounds detected in craft beers included acrolein, ethyl carbamate, formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, furfuryl alcohol and furfural ( Hernandes et al., 2020 ).

In the same line, due to the lack of heat treatment and filtration processes, craft beers are susceptible to microbial contamination and deterioration of their sensory and physicochemical characteristics. In addition, the use of unconventional ingredients rich in organic matter increases craft beer spoilage. According to Liping (2018) , a large number of spoiled craft beers were found in China in the summer of 2018. Garofalo et al. (2015) detected Lactobacillus brevis , enterobacteria and other bacteria of the genus Staphylococcus and Acetobacter in spoiled craft beers. 68% of craft beer samples from Spain evaluated had the presence of exogenous microorganisms (yeasts > lactic acid bacteria (LAB) > acetic bacteria) and the concentration was proportional to the number of ingredients used in the brewing process ( López et al., 2020 ). The most common microorganisms of concern are LAB due to their relationship with the production of biogenic amines. Lactobacillus , Leuconostoc and Pediococcus were identified in craft beers in Spain; and when isolated and inoculated into commercial beers, the concentration ( Lactobacillus [putrescine and tyramine] >  Pediococcus [putrescine] >  Leuconostoc [putrescine]) of biogenic amines was considerable ( Rodríguez-Saavedra et al., 2020 ). Higher concentrations of ochratoxin A (mycotoxin) were also detected in craft beers than in industrial beers ( Rodríguez-Saavedra et al., 2020 ). Aflatoxin B1, aflatoxin B2, aflatoxin M1, HT-2 toxins, T-2 toxins, zearalenone, β-zearalenone, zearalenone-14-sulfate, ochratoxin A, deoxynivalenol, deoxynivalenol 3-glucoside, fumonisin B1 and fumonisin B3 were detected in craft beers from 42 countries ( Peters et al., 2017 ).

Craft brewers should implement strategies to avoid economic losses due to the deterioration of the quality of craft beers. Producing craft beers with undesirable characteristics also significantly affects the reputation of the product and the producer, which could lead to ruin considering the high level of competition in the market. Craft breweries lack microbiological laboratories for the rapid detection and identification of spoilage microorganisms ( Rodríguez-Saavedra et al., 2020 ); therefore, analyses can be performed in external laboratories, but craft brewers do not have the necessary financial resources. An efficient and feasible alternative is to establish a plan of gradual cleaning and disinfection (based on regulations) in all areas of the brewery to limit contamination ( Garofalo et al., 2015 ). Manzano et al. (2011) significantly reduced the presence of LAB and yeasts in craft beers in Italy when they implemented strict hygiene practices in the brewery.

Non-thermal preservation techniques that do not significantly affect the characteristics of the beer could also be used. These include the use of high hydrostatic pressures, cold plasma, pulsed electric fields, irradiation, microwaves and ultrasound. Treatment with high hydrostatic pressure significantly reduced the concentration of S . cerevisiae ascospores in beers, without affecting the overall flavor ( Milani and Silva, 2016 ). High hydrostatic pressures inhibited the development of lactic acid bacteria and aerobic bacteria in cloudy beers, in addition to improving turbidity, without affecting the physicochemical and sensory characteristics, but did increase the color value ( Yin et al., 2016 ). Pulsed electric fields were efficient in microbial decontamination in red wines, without affecting their sensory and enological characteristics ( Delso et al., 2023 ). Ohmic heating produced sterile fruit craft beers with different but acceptable chemical and sensory characteristics ( Fanari et al., 2020 ). Peña-Gómez et al. (2020) used filtration through silica microparticles as a cold pasteurization technique and obtained microbiologically stable craft beers with sensory characteristics without significant differences compared to untreated samples. These technologies could also induce the increase of PCs, which was tested in several foods ( Jacobo-Velázquez et al., 2021 ). This should also be investigated in depth in order to offer higher quality craft beers. Depending on the processing conditions, high-pressure processing increased the PCs content in filtered and unfiltered beers ( Štulíková et al., 2021 ). In one study, pulsed electric fields and ultrasound did not significantly affect the content of PCs in wines during two months of storage, whereas high hydrostatic pressures induced an increase and higher stability depending on the type of wine ( van Wyk et al., 2021 ). As can be seen, the use of non-thermal pasteurization processes in beer is scarce, mainly in the field of craft beer. This may be due to the fact that craft beers are produced on a small scale and by small producers who cannot acquire these technologies. First, government support is required through laws that exclusively support microbrewers. Another alternative is for them to form associations with multiple advantages, namely, a) attracting the attention of the government; b) access loans to enhance technical/technological capacity; c) acquire raw materials in greater volume and at lower cost; d) improve competitiveness and obtain better market opportunities.

8. Conclusions

Craft beer is constantly innovating to meet the needs of the most demanding consumers. Its differentiated sensory characteristics are consolidating it as a product that could dethrone commercial beer, and more quickly in sectors with greater purchasing power. There is a wide variety of craft beers made with different raw materials, strains and even processes that define their content of macronutrients, micronutrients and phytochemicals. Due to the high and varied content of PCs, craft beers have potential to provide health benefits, just like other superfoods. Low-alcohol craft beers or moderate consumption are also shown to be better alternatives to being teetotal, although the benefits of alcohol are still under discussion. However, more studies with animal models and mainly clinical trials with complete and robust designs are required to obtain more generalizable and conclusive results. There are some challenges such as the presence of toxic compounds and undesirable microorganisms in craft beer because it does not undergo thermal processing to maintain its unique characteristics. It is suggested to implement strict hygiene measures to reduce the contamination and to evaluate the effect of non-thermal pasteurization treatments because, according to the literature, it could also enhance bioactive compounds in craft beer. Finally, the creation of exclusive laws for craft brewers and their association can help overcome the economic, technical and technological barriers that limit craft beer production almost everywhere in the world.

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Vicente Amirpasha Tirado-Kulieva: Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal analysis, Writing – original draft. Ernesto Hernández-Martínez: Methodology, Formal analysis, Writing – review & editing, Supervision. Hans Himbler Minchán-Velayarce: Formal analysis, Writing – review & editing, Supervision. Sandra Eloisa Pasapera-Campos: Conceptualization, Writing – original draft. Olivia Magaly Luque-Vilca: Writing – review & editing, Supervision.

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgments

The authors are thankful to Freepik ( https://www.freepik.com/ ) for the images (free license) used in the figures. This work did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Handling Editor: Professor A.G. Marangoni

Appendix A Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crfs.2023.100477 .

Appendix A. Supplementary data

The following is the Supplementary data to this article.

Data availability

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Beer is a beverage with more than eight thousand years of history, and the process of brewing has not changed so much over the centuries. However, important technical advances have allowed us to produce beer in a more sophisticated and efficient way. The proliferation of specialty hop varieties has been behind the popularity of craft beers seen in the last few years around the world. Craft brewers interpret historic beer with unique styles. Craft beers are undergoing an unprecedented period of growth, and more than 150 beer styles are currently recognized.

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More than just a beer—the potential applications of by-products from beer manufacturing in polymer technology

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• Published: 24 September 2021
• Volume 5 , pages 765–783, ( 2022 )

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• Aleksander Hejna   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-9125-6164 1  

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Beer is the most popular alcoholic beverage in the world, and its popularity is continuously growing. Currently, global beer production is estimated at around 2 billion hectoliters. Nevertheless, the increasing production capacity implicates the rising issue of generated by-products—brewers’ spent grain, spent hops, spent yeast, and wastewater. They are generated in massive amounts, so having in mind the current pro-ecological trends, it is crucial to look for their utilization methods. Among the possibilities, particular attention should be drawn to polymer technology. This sector can efficiently use different lignocellulosic materials, which could be applied as fillers for polymer composites or sources of particular chemical compounds. Moreover, due to their chemical composition, brewing industry by-products may be used as functional fillers and additives. They could be introduced to enhance the materials’ resistance to oxidation, microbes, or fungi. These issues should be considered especially important in the case of biodegradable polymers, whose popularity is growing over the last years. This paper summarizes the literature reports related to the composition and potential applications of the brewing industry by-products in polymer technology. Moreover, potential directions of research based on the possibilities offered by the brewing industry by-products are presented.

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1 Introduction

As a process aimed at beer production, brewing is known for thousands of years [ 1 ]. Depending on the times and mainly the development of humanity and science, the specifics of this process were changing [ 2 ]. Figure  1 presents the current general scheme of beer production. Generally, the brewing process consists of the following stages, starting from the malt: crushing of malt, mashing, lautering, filtration, boiling, and fermentation. At first, malt is crushed to break apart the kernel and facilitate the extraction of sugars during mashing [ 3 ].

The general scheme of beer production with an indication of generated by-products

Then, crushed malt is mixed with hot water in a mash tun creating the cereal mash. Naturally occurring enzymes present in the malt convert the starch extracted from the malt into simpler fermentable and non-fermentable sugars in the saccharification process [ 4 ]. To enhance the yield of mashing, in the end, the mas is often heated up to 76–78 °C, which is called mashout, and sprinkled with additional water during sparging [ 5 ]. Such processes are implemented to reduce mash viscosity, free up more starch, and extract additional sugars [ 6 ]. As a result, a sugar-rich liquid called wort is obtained after separation from the solid residue of mashing called the brewers’ spent grain (BSG) [ 7 ].

The wort is moved to the kettle, where it is boiled with hops (and sometimes other ingredients). The boiling process aims to terminate the enzymatic processes, precipitate proteins, concentrate and sterilize the wort, as well as extract compounds from hops to beer and isomerize hop resins to add bitterness to beer [ 8 ]. Moreover, boiling may induce caramelization and Maillard reactions in wort [ 9 ]. In the end, the hopped wort is cooled down and separated from the trub, which includes the hop residues and colloidal proteins coagulated during boiling [ 10 ].

Cooled and hopped wort is transferred to the fermentation tanks and pitched with yeast, converting the fermentable sugars into alcohol and carbon dioxide. Moreover, depending on the type of yeast, different reactions occur, which account for the beer’s final taste and aroma profile [ 11 ]. After complete fermentation, the beer is separated from the surplus yeast, called spent yeast, conditioned in the additional tank, and packed into bottles, casks, or cans [ 12 ].

2 Beer production statistics

Beer is the most popular alcoholic beverage globally and the third most popular beverage after water and tea [ 13 ]. The global beer production size is relatively stable in the last decade and accounts for 1.91–1.97 billion hectoliters [ 13 ]. The leading producer is China, whose production in 2019 equaled 376.5 million hectoliters and accounted for ~ 20% of global production [ 14 ]. The Americas occupy the following positions—the United States, Brazil, and Mexico with 210.3, 144.8, and 124.2 million hectoliters, respectively [ 15 ]. Considering Europe, the size of production exceeds 420 million hectoliters annually [ 16 ]. The share of particular continents in the global beer production is presented in Fig.  2 . The biggest producer is Germany, the country with great brewing traditions. In 2019, Germans produced 91.6 million hectoliters of beer, mostly pilsener and wheat beer [ 17 ]. In Europe, Germany is followed by Poland and the UK, whose production is around 40 million hectoliters [ 18 ]. It is also essential to mention Russia as a critical producer with 77.4 million hectoliters produced in 2019 [ 19 ]. Russia is one of the few countries where beer is not the most popular alcoholic beverage, with a higher vodka share [ 20 ]. Presented data indicate that global beer production is distributed across all the regions of the world. Therefore, research activities related to the manufacturing, consumption, and health aspects and the utilization of by-products of beer production are essential because these aspects may affect an enormous number of people worldwide.

The share of particular continents in the global beer production

3 Beer production by-products

Conventionally, beer is produced from barley and, to a noticeably lesser extent, from wheat [ 21 ]. Such a production model is commonly applied in Europe. Moreover, in Germany, such issues are regulated by Germany’s Beer Purity Law, originating from the medieval Bayreisches Reinheitsgebot [ 22 ]. Nevertheless, in different regions of the world, other starch sources are also applied, such as maize in America [ 23 ], rice in Asia [ 24 ], or sorghum in Africa [ 25 ]. Considering hops and yeast, their use is associated with the desired beer style. The market offers an enormous range of hops and yeast varieties [ 26 , 27 ].

According to the brewing scheme presented in Fig.  1 , the main by-products of beer manufacturing are the brewers’ spent grain, trub removed after wort boiling, and spent yeast. The generation of brewing by-products is very similar globally, with possible differences in their composition, depending on the location. These materials are currently often unutilized and present hardly any market value. Generally, considering the current pro-environmental trends in scientific and industrial activities partially stimulated by the changing law regulations established worldwide, waste and by-products management are essential [ 28 ]. Except for the environmental motivations, the application of such materials in various production processes can generate added value for the resulting products (enhanced performance or new properties) or reduce their manufacturing costs [ 29 ].

One of the industry branches where by-products from beer manufacturing could be potentially applied in polymer technology. This sector of the industry is enormously dependent on petroleum price and availability [ 30 ]. It is commonly known that its resources are constantly shrinking, and it is essential to seek new raw materials, which could substitute petroleum, beneficially from renewable resources [ 31 ]. In the following sections, the literature reports on the applications of brewing by-products in polymer technology would be discussed.

3.1 Brewers’ spent grain

3.1.1 overview.

The main and the most abundant by-product generated by the brewing industry is brewers’ spent grain. It is generated in high amounts and accounts for over 85% of beer manufacturing by-products [ 32 ]. During the mashing process, around 69% of the initial malt mass is extracted and converted to sugars soluble in wort [ 33 ]. Considering that production of the one hectoliter of beer uses 20 kg of malt, around 6.2 kg of dry BSG is generated. Such values are typical for the most popular beer style worldwide—light lager [ 34 ]. Other beer styles, especially those characterized by higher original gravity, require higher malt loadings, even up to 45 kg for strong stouts or porters [ 35 ]. Keeping in mind the size of the global beer production, almost 12 million tonnes of brewers’ spent grain is generated worldwide. The biggest producer, China, accounts for over 2.3 million tonnes, followed by the USA with 1.3 million tonnes, while European production generates around 2.6 million tonnes of BSG [ 34 ].

3.1.2 Composition

One of the main drawbacks of BSG as a potential raw material for other processes is its high moisture content, exceeding 75% [ 36 ]. Together with the presence of polysaccharides, this factor makes the BSG a perishable material. Drying of brewers’ spent grain, which could be easily performed using conventional dryers, might noticeably enhance its attractiveness for other industry branches, including polymer technology [ 37 ]. Moreover, BSG is characterized by the relatively low activation energy values during drying, comparable to other food industry by-products such as carrots, beans, or general vegetable waste [ 38 ]. The drying of BSG requires less energy than, e.g., olive processing by-products, probably due to their high lipid content [ 38 ].

The brewers’ spent grain can be characterized by a similar composition to various lignocellulose materials except for the high moisture content. As presented in Table  1 , the total content of carbohydrates in BSG is around 50%, which is noticeably lower compared to other lignocellulose waste materials, e.g., barley straw (56%) [ 39 ], rye, or oat straw (66–68%) [ 40 ], sunflower or cotton stalks (72–73%) [ 40 ]. Such a phenomenon is attributed to the partial reduction of carbohydrate content during mashing when starch is removed [ 41 ].

Moreover, brewers’ spent grain contains from 10 to even 28% of lignin, depending on the reports [ 48 ] and a significant amount of proteins, which is attributed to their high content in barley grain [ 52 ]. The detailed composition of proteins in BSG may differ depending on the determination method, source of by-product, and applied malts, mostly crop species [ 33 ]. According to Robertson et al. [ 53 ], the glutamine is the primary amino acid of BSG (around 19–20% of total proteins), followed by a proline (~ 9%), asparagine, and leucine (both ~ 8%), arginine, phenylalanine, and valine (~ 7%). On the other hand, Waters et al. [ 54 ] reported that histidine is present in the highest amount exceeding 26% of total proteins, followed by glutamine (~ 16%), lysine (~ 14%), and leucine (~ 6%), while the content of other amino acids does not exceed 5%. Nevertheless, irrespectively of the detailed composition of amino acids, BSG should be considered as protein-rich material.

Brewers’ spent grain often contains noticeable amounts of phenolics, which may provide additional value for various applications due to their antioxidant and antimicrobial properties [ 55 ]. The main phenolic components of BSG are hydroxycinnamic acids (HCAs) and hydroxybenzoic acids (HBAs), particularly ferulic, p -coumaric, sinapic, syringic, and caffeic acids [ 56 , 57 , 58 ]. The first two compounds are present in the highest amounts, but the literature reports indicate that their contents depend strongly on the type of malts used for brewing [ 59 ]. McCarthy et al. [ 59 ] showed that the roasting of pale barley malt reduced the total HCAs content in BSG by 57%. Also, Moreira et al. [ 60 ] pointed to the reduction in total phenolic content due to increasing malt kilning temperature. For chocolate and black malts, kilned at temperatures exceeding 220 °C, the content of ferulic and p -coumaric acids was reduced by over 50%. The effect was significantly smaller for melanoidin and carared malts, which were subjected to a temperature in the range of 120–160 °C.

Generally, the structures of the major phenolic acids present in brewers’ spent grain are presented in Fig.  3 . Their detailed composition in particular BSG samples and other by-products, may noticeably differ depending on the method of their extraction, selection of solvents, and method of the quantitative analysis [ 35 ]. Nevertheless, despite the differences in reported contents of HCAs and other phenolics, they significantly enhance the antioxidant activity of BSG compared to other lignocellulose materials.

The structures of the major phenolics of BSG: a ferulic, b p -coumaric, c sinapic, and d caffeic acid

These compounds mentioned above present in BSG are considered strong antioxidants and may enhance the stability of polymeric materials [ 61 , 62 , 63 ]. Considering the antioxidant activity of BSG, it may contain noticeable amounts of melanoidins, mainly when it originated from the production of darker beers. Melanoidins are generated during Maillard reactions occurring between carbonyl groups of reducing sugars and amino groups of amino acids present in proteins [ 64 ]. As a result, the complex mixture of higher molecular weight oligomeric and polymeric compounds is obtained [ 65 ]. They are responsible for the browning reactions of various food products after applying temperature, e.g., during baking, frying, or cooking [ 66 ].

Moreover, the brewers’ spent grain contains multiple micro- and macroelements, mostly silicon, phosphorous, calcium, and magnesium [ 32 ]. Combining their content with the presence of vitamins, primarily B3, B4, and B5, the BSG is often investigated in food additives [ 48 , 67 ].

3.1.3 Current applications and potential in polymer technology

Animal feed.

Nowadays, the main application of brewers’ spent grain is low-value animal feed with relatively low market value. It is often sold to farmers, mainly in a wet state [ 68 ]. It is associated with the composition of this by-product, particularly protein content [ 45 ]. As a result, Belibasakis and Tsirgogianni [ 69 ] and Sawadogo et al. [ 70 ] reported the enhanced milk production for cows fed with BSG. Also, other works reported the beneficial impact on animal nutrition, including fish, pigs, and chickens [ 71 , 72 , 73 ]. In the case of lack of potential recipients of BSG for animal feed, this by-product may be deposited in the fields, where in moderate amounts, it can act as natural fertilizer [ 55 ].

Considering the nutrition, brewers’ spent grain was also investigated as a human food ingredient. Because of its composition and origin, it was introduced into bakery products as a flour substitute [ 74 ]. Ground BSG is characterized by a darker color than the lightest types of flour, so it could not be applied in white bread [ 75 ]. Nevertheless, BSG showed a very beneficial impact on the bread protein content due to its composition, increasing it by ~ 50%, when only 10% of traditional flour was replaced [ 76 ]. Combining the protein content with the lack of starch (which is removed during mashing—see Fig.  1 ), the caloric density of bread containing 10% of BSG may be even 7% lower compared to the conventional bread [ 77 ]. Except for the bakery products, brewers’ spent grain can be incorporated into other high-fiber foods [ 78 , 79 , 80 , 81 ]. In general, the food-sector applications of brewers’ spent grain were comprehensively discussed in the excellent review works of McCarthy et al. [ 82 ], Lynch et al. [ 48 ], and lately Rachwał et al. [ 83 ].

Energy production

Like other types of waste biomass, BSG was also investigated in energy production, which may be implemented within the brewery, leading to reduced production costs [ 84 ]. It can be directly combusted. However, it may cause problems related to the high nitrogen content and resulting generation of nitrogen oxides [ 85 ]. Such an effect can be reduced by the application of pyrolysis [ 86 ]. Another possibility is converting BSG into charcoal bricks, which increases its calorific value from ~ 20 to 27 MJ/kg [ 87 , 88 ]. Multiple works also reported microbial fermentation of brewers’ spent grain into bioethanol [ 89 , 90 , 91 ] or biogas [ 92 , 93 , 94 , 95 ], which can be applied as biofuels.

Fermentation

Considering fermentation, BSG was investigated as a growth medium [ 96 ], e.g., substitute of sucrose or glucose in the lactic fermentation [ 97 , 98 , 99 ], medium for pullulan production [ 100 ], and introduced into manufacturing of xylitol [ 101 , 102 , 103 ] or citric acid [ 104 ]. The application of wastes and residues for fermentation is a very common and often investigated approach [ 105 ].

Among the mentioned fermentation products, lactic acid is an exciting compound for polymer technology. It is commonly applied in poly(lactic acid) manufacturing—one of the most popular biodegradable, thermoplastic polyesters [ 106 ]. Over the last years, it attracted much attention due to the application in 3D printing [ 107 ]. Moreover, due to the current law regulations, its popularity in manufacturing packaging materials is increasing, often combined with other, less expensive materials like thermoplastic starch [ 108 ].

Except for lactic acid, other BSG fermentation products, which could be applied in polymer technology are citric acid [ 109 ] and propionic acid [ 110 ]. The first one can be applied as a co-monomer in manufacturing of polyesters [ 111 , 112 , 113 , 114 ] or as a crosslinking agent [ 115 , 116 ]. Propionic acid is a substrate in the production of polymers based on cellulose derivatives, such as cellulose propionate [ 117 ]. Their popularity is growing over the last years due to the current pro-environmental trends related to bio-based polymer materials and their potential novel applications, e.g., in 3D printing [ 118 , 119 , 120 ].

Figure  4 summarizes the potential applications of BSG fermentation products in polymer technology. Nevertheless, to the best of our knowledge, no works deal with the application of BSG fermentation products in polymer technology. More details related to the recent developments in the biotechnological valorization of these by-products were presented recently in the comprehensive review work by Puligundla and Mok [ 121 ].

Potential applications of BSG fermentation products in polymer technology

Extraction of celluloses and lignin

Except for the microbial conversion, various compounds present in BSG, which may find application in polymer technology, can be extracted using different techniques [ 122 , 123 , 124 ]. Among the most noticeable components of BSG in terms of polymer technology are celluloses and lignin [ 125 ]. They could be applied as fillers for composites and intermediates in manufacturing other raw materials used in polymer technology.

Mishra et al. [ 126 ] presented the multi-stage process of BSG conversion into cellulose nano-fibers consisting of alkali treatments and bleaching. They isolated nanosized fibers with an average diameter of 4.6 nm, shown by atomic force microscopy. Similar fibers are often investigated as fillers for polymer nanocomposites [ 127 , 128 , 129 ]. The efficient isolation of fibers and removal of other components of BSG was confirmed by thermogravimetric analysis (lack of decomposition step attributed to the presence of lignin) and X-ray diffractometry (gradual increase in crystallinity index). Similar observations were made by dos Santos et al. [ 130 ].

Mussatto et al. [ 131 ] investigated the recovery of lignin from BSG. The by-product was subjected to the soda pulping process, comprehensively described in other work [ 132 ]. The resulting black liquor was treated with sulfuric acid, which enabled the separation of lignin by precipitation. Except for the lignin, the investigated process enabled the removal of ferulic, p -coumaric, p -hydroxybenzoic, vanillic, and syringic acids from black liquor. Such an effect points to the presence of these compounds in obtained lignin, which could be applied, e.g., as a filler for wood-polymer composites.

Quite interesting is also the extraction of arabinoxylans from brewers’ spent grain. They are hemicelluloses found in plants' primary and secondary cell walls, which consist of copolymers of arabinose and xylose [ 133 ]. They play a structural role in plants, and interestingly the significant amounts of phenolic acids are bound to them, so they show noticeable antioxidant activity [ 134 ]. Arabinoxylans and their esters are applied in polymer technology to develop biodegradable and even edible films [ 135 , 136 ], which could be efficiently applied in food packaging applications [ 137 , 138 , 139 ]. They could be enzymatically extracted from BSG in a multi-step procedure [ 140 , 141 , 142 ]. The extraction efficiency can be significantly enhanced by the proper particle size distribution of BSG adjusted by milling and sieving, as proven by Reis et al. [ 143 ]. Moreirinha et al. [ 144 ] used the brewers’ spent grain arabinoxylans to prepare composite films with a different share of nanocellulose. Moreover, selected composite films were modified with ferulic acid or feruloylated arabinoxylo-oligosaccharides obtained from BSG. All prepared films were characterized by the onset of thermal decomposition exceeding typical sterilization or autoclaving temperatures ~ 150 °C. They were characterized by satisfactory mechanical performance, with Young’s modulus in the range of 4.3–7.5 GPa (the highest for composite containing 50% of nanocellulose) and tensile strength of 71–110 MPa (the highest for 75% nanocellulose loading). Modifications of films unfavorably affected the mechanical performance but increased the antioxidant activity determined by DPPH assay from the initial 2% to 64–90%. Also, a noticeable reduction in bacterial ( Staphylococcus aureus ) and fungal ( Candida albicans ) growth is beneficial for the potential applications in food packaging.

Extraction of phenolics

Except for cellulose, hemicellulose, or lignin, also other compounds can be extracted and isolated from brewers’ spent grain. Very auspicious are the phenolics mentioned above, primarily hydroxycinnamic acids, showing antioxidant properties. The BSG should be considered an inexpensive source of these compounds, which could be efficiently applied not only in the food or cosmetic industry [ 145 , 146 , 147 ] but also as potential antioxidants for polymer materials [ 148 , 149 , 150 ]. Phenolics can be recovered from brewers’ spent grain by different variants of extraction, e.g., solid–liquid type or assisted by supercritical fluids, microwaves or ultrasounds, and enzymatic or alkaline reactions [ 151 , 152 , 153 ]. As mentioned above, the yield of their recovery strongly depends on the extraction method and its parameters, e.g., selected solvents [ 154 ]. Similar phenomena were reported for other by-products, e.g., from the coffee industry, also characterized by high phenolics content [ 155 , 156 , 157 ]. The recent advances in the extraction of bioactive compounds, including phenolics, from brewers’ spent grain, were comprehensively summarized in the excellent work of Bonifácio-Lopes et al. [ 158 ]. Nevertheless, to the best of our knowledge, there are no literature works reporting the application of BSG-originated phenolics in polymer materials.

Liquefaction

Considering other, more direct uses of brewers’ spent grain in polymer technology, in our previous work [ 159 ], we used the brewers’ spent grain as a biomass feedstock for crude glycerol-based microwave liquefaction aimed at manufacturing biopolyols for polyurethanes. The general scheme of the process is presented in Fig.  5 . The spectroscopic investigation of obtained polyols revealed that biomass was partially decomposed during the process and reacted with solvent particles. Nevertheless, the efficiency of the process was relatively low, and the hydroxyl values were in the range of 900–1050 mg KOH/g. Such values are very high and could be suitable only for manufacturing very crosslinked and stiff materials. Further studies should include the application of catalysts and optimization of process conditions to enhance its efficiency.

The general scheme of microwave-assisted liquefaction of BSG resulting in biopolyol for polyurethanes [ 159 ]

Filler for polymer composites

On the other hand, the relatively high fiber content in brewers’ spent grain makes it attractive for the preparation of wood-polymer composites, possibly applied in various branches of industry [ 160 ]. Other fillers, either conventionally applied wood flour or waste-based, are characterized by a relatively similar composition [ 161 , 162 ]. Moreover, the presence of proteins, which may act as plasticizers, may facilitate the melt processing of composites [ 163 ].

Revert et al. [ 164 ] introduced the BSG as a filler into the polypropylene matrix. Nevertheless, due to the polarity differences between filler and matrix, the interfacial interactions were fragile, and the significant deterioration of mechanical performance was noted. The only positive effect of the BSG incorporation was the shift of the oxidation onset temperature attributed to the presence of phenolics showing antioxidant activity. The addition of 10–40 wt% of by-product shifted the oxidation onset by 10–23 °C.

Barbu et al. [ 165 ] introduced BSG into particleboards as a partial replacement of wood, which is a common trend in the case of wood-polymer composites [ 166 , 167 , 168 ]. The appearance of BSG without additional treatment (presented in Fig.  6 ) is quite similar to the wood chips, so this by-product can be easily applied as substitute for conventional raw materials. Particleboards bonded with polymeric 4,4′-methylene diphenyl isocyanate, urea–formaldehyde, or melamine urea–formaldehyde resin. Nevertheless, according to the presented results, to maintain the satisfactory level of the mechanical properties, the content of BSG should be kept at low levels (up to 10%). The structural differences associated with the reduction in particle–particle bonding between wood particles were noted at higher loadings due to the high consumption of glue by BSG. Authors suggested that at higher contents, brewers’ spent grain should be combined with innovative glues, based on casein or tannins, which could improve the particle–particle bonding. Similar conclusions about the potential, beneficial share of BSG in wood-based particleboards were provided by Klimek et al. [ 169 ], who also suggested the 10% substitution of wood with BSG.

The appearance of BSG without additional treatment

A very interesting application of BSG in polymer technology was also presented by Ferreira et al. [ 170 ], who used it to prepare disposable trays for food packaging. They were obtained by compression molding of BSG with potato starch applied as a continuous phase. The process was aided with the addition of glycerol, water, and in some cases gelatin, chitosan, or glyoxal applied as crosslinkers. After compression, trays were covered with beeswax. Obtained materials were characterized by significantly higher flexural strength and modulus than commercial trays from expanded polystyrene. Independently of the BSG content (from 20 to 80% in the whole tray), trays showed strength in the range of 1.51–2.62 MPa, compared to the 0.64 MPa for commercial material. Also, the modulus was noticeably higher (1.1–2.0 MPa) compared to polystyrene trays (0.28 MPa). Nevertheless, due to their composition and hydrophilic character of applied raw materials, trays showed significantly higher water absorption than polystyrene, which resulted in a significant 80–90% decrease in mechanical parameters. Such an effect was attributed to the plasticizing effect of water. The application of crosslinkers or beeswax slightly reduced the water absorption. However, deterioration was still noted after immersion, and polystyrene trays showed noticeably superior properties. Nevertheless, presented results indicate that such a solution is quite promising, especially for applications that do not require exceptional resistance to water.

Generally, multiple works dealing with the application of brewers’ spent grain in the polymer sector, especially these dealing with its use as a filler for composites or substitute of wood in particleboards, indicate the necessity for modifying this by-product [ 171 , 172 ]. Modifications should be aimed at enhancing the interfacial interactions with polymer matrices by the change of their hydrophilic character. Such an effect could be achieved by thermo-mechanical treatment resulting in non-enzymatic browning in the caramelization process and mostly Maillard reactions, as presented in our previous works [ 34 , 173 ]. It is also essential that melanoidins show noticeable antioxidant activity, which can be very beneficial for the oxidative stability of polymer composites [ 174 ].

In previous works, we reported the application of thermo-mechanically modified BSG as a potential filler for wood-polymer composites [ 175 , 176 ].

In the case of poly(ε-caprolactone) composites, their mechanical performance was noticeably affected by the parameters of thermo-mechanical treatment of BSG [ 175 ]. The increase of modification temperature noticeably affected the interface surface area, resulting in an even 30% increase in composites’ toughness. Dynamic mechanical analysis indicated over 30% drop in the adhesion factor and increased the constrained chain volume exceeding 27%. Such an effect points to the significant enhancement of the interfacial interactions.

On the other hand, modified BSG could be effectively applied to substitute traditional wood flour in polyethylene-based composites [ 176 ]. Nevertheless, due to the differences in the chemical composition between fillers (presence of proteins, lipids, and melanoidins in BSG, lower content of holocellulose compared to wood flour), the composites’ performance was differing. The introduction of BSG resulted in significantly higher values of melt flow index. When wood flour was completely substituted, it increased from 3.23 to 10.56 g/10 min, which was attributed to the drop in viscosity from 1.02 to 0.30 Pa s. A similar effect was noted in our other work [ 163 ]. The density and porosity of materials were slightly reduced with the increasing share of BSG due to the presence of proteins, which may enable better encapsulation of filler particles with polymer macromolecules. However, it also caused changes in the composites’ mechanical performance. Tensile strength and modulus were reduced by ~ 27% and ~ 42%, respectively, but the elongation at break was doubled. Concluding, modified brewers’ spent grain could be introduced as partial replacement of conventional wood flour to engineer materials with desired properties.

Other, less popular methods of BSG utilization include the manufacturing of adsorbents [ 177 , 178 , 179 ], paper [ 47 , 180 ], bricks [ 87 ], or activated carbon [ 181 ]. Brewers’ spent grain-based adsorbents, and activated carbons were found efficient in the removal of dyes [ 182 , 183 , 184 , 185 ], volatile organic compounds from the gas phase [ 186 ], but mostly metal ions from aqueous media [ 187 , 188 , 189 , 190 , 191 ].

3.2 Trub, spent hops

3.2.1 overview.

Trub is generated during filtration of wort before the fermentation. After cooling down, the wort is separated from the trub, accounting for around 0.2–0.4% of the wort volume [ 28 ]. The precipitate contains coagulates of high molecular weight proteins [ 192 ]. They are generated during the heat-induced denaturation of proteins. Except for coagulates, the residual hops may be present in trub, because according to the literature data, around 85% of the initial hops mass introduced into wort is removed as a by-product [ 77 ]. After extracting the compounds that create the flavor, aroma, and bitterness of the final beer, the solid residues of hops are discarded. However, their content in trub depends on the applied technology of beer hopping [ 193 ]. Therefore, the composition of this by-product may be very diverse, depending on the share of coagulates and spent hops.

3.2.2 Composition

Separately, trub contains mostly significant amounts of proteins, even up to 70% of dry matter [ 83 ]. Considering spent hops, the proteins account for around 22–23% of dry matter, with a similar share of fiber [ 194 ]. According to Mathias et al. [ 42 ], around 20% of the residual reducing sugars may also be present in trub. Both trub and spent hops contain relatively low amounts of ash, ~ 2%, and ~ 6%, respectively. Interestingly, this by-product may contain noticeable amounts of essential oils and phenolics due to the hop presence. Such an effect is attributed to the low solubility of various compounds in the wort, e.g., in the case of lupulones [ 195 ]. On the other hand, phenolics such as hydroxycinnamic acids, gallic acid, catechins, anthocyanidines, and others, are precipitated with proteins and removed as a part of hot trub [ 196 ]. The essential oils contain noticeable amounts of terpenes [ 67 ]. Moreover, myrcene, alpha-humulene, or beta-ceryophyllene are present. They account for ~ 47% of the essential oil [ 197 ]. The structures of main components of essential oils are presented in Fig.  7 .

The main components of spent hops essential oil: a myrcene, b α-humulene, c β-caryophyllene, and d 2-undecanone [ 197 ]

3.2.3 Current applications and potential in polymer technology

Contrary to the brewers’ spent grain, the trub and spent hops are significantly less frequently used in animal feeding, despite the beneficial composition, relatively high fiber content, and mostly the presence of proteins. Such an effect is attributed to the presence of hops, particularly bitterness [ 198 ]. Another issue is the low energy value of spent hops, which is around 50% lower than spent grains, despite the relatively high fiber content [ 77 ]. On the other hand, some research works investigated the combination of spent hops with other brewery by-products, which resulted in acceptable feed, e.g., for pigs [ 199 ]. According to the works of Huszcza et al. [ 200 , 201 ], the bitter acids originated from spent hops can be removed or degraded by yeast or fungi. More recent works dealing with the trub and spent hops investigated the reduction of bitterness by the multi-step extraction of bitter compounds [ 202 ]. During extraction, most carbohydrates were removed together with tannins and phenolics, which are often bound to the carbohydrates. As a result, the share of proteins and fat was increased from the initial 26.5% and 5.2% to 70.3% and 9.9%, respectively. Due to the significant drop of phenolics content (from ~ 350 to ~ 125 mg gallic acid equivalents/100 g), the antioxidant activity was also noticeably reduced. Nevertheless, changes resulting from the extraction allowed the use of modified trub in food applications.

Considering the most popular uses of biomass and brewery by-products, except for the animal feed, trub and spent hops may be applied as a soil conditioner and fertilizer, which is associated with their high nitrogen content [ 42 , 203 ].

As mentioned above, the trub and spent hops contain noticeable amounts of essential oils and phenolics. These compounds can be effectively extracted from this by-product and potentially applied in polymer technology. Bedini et al. [ 197 ] reported that the terpenes present in spent hops could be applied as the repellents against the insects, e.g., Rhyzopertha dominica or Sitophilus granarius . Spent hops essential oils were 2–5 times more effective against R. dominica than Laurus nobilis oils [ 204 ] and showed similar repellency against S. granaries as Hyptis suaveolens oils [ 205 ]. Bartmańska et al. [ 206 ] also showed antifungal activity of spent hops extracts against Botrytis cinerea , Fusarium oxysporum , Fusarium culmorum , and Fusarium semitectum . Therefore, the application of spent hops or only their essential oils in manufacturing the packaging materials seems reasonable. The extraction and isolation of essential oils from spent hops can be performed by hydrolysis, steam distillation, but also using supercritical CO 2 or eutectic solvents [ 207 , 208 , 209 , 210 ].

Moreover, this by-product can be applied in fermentation processes as a supplement for microbes due to the high nitrogen content [ 83 ] and the presence of lipids and zinc [ 211 ].

3.3 Spent yeast

3.3.1 overview.

During the initial stage of fermentation, the intensive proliferation of yeast is occurring, so after fermentation and maturation, the surplus of yeast is present and should be removed from beer [ 212 ]. Partially, they are recovered by natural sedimentation, but for higher efficiency, additional filtration or centrifugation may be applied [ 213 ]. The actual amount of this by-product depends on the type of yeast used for fermentation, but it can account even for 15% of total by-products generated during beer production [ 214 ]. Around 0.3 kg of spent yeast is generated per hectoliter of beer. Depending on the properties of yeast, in particular their flocculation, this by-product is characterized by the high moisture content in the range of 75–90%. Therefore, portion of beer is removed along with yeast, which may generate the 1.5–3.0% loss of beer [ 28 ].

3.4 Composition

Considering the composition, spent yeast contains a noticeable amount of carbohydrates and proteins. Among the first group, the most abundant are non-cellulose compounds (25–35%), mainly β-glucans, mannoproteins, and glycogen, followed by cellulose (17–25%) [ 215 ]. Proteins may account for more than 50% of the spent yeast dry mass [ 195 , 216 ]. Jacob et al. [ 217 ] reported even value of 74.3 wt%. Therefore, the spent yeast is characterized by the lowest carbon:nitrogen ratio among the brewing by-products, around 5 [ 42 ]. Literature works report different amino acid compositions of spent yeast. According to Vieira et al. [ 218 ], the most common amino acids in spent yeast are alanine (even over 9%), arginine, aspartic acid, and cysteine. At the same time, Jaeger et al. [ 219 ] indicated that glutamic acid is the most abundant one (~ 15%), followed by histidine, alanine, arginine, and aspartic acid. Such an effect may be associated with the differences between particular Saccharomyces cerevisae strains applied worldwide [ 220 ].

Brewery spent yeast are also a great source of micro- and macroelements, as well as vitamins. Nevertheless, the mineral composition of yeast can differ depending on the length of fermentation and fermentation cycles [ 67 ]. Among the most abundant minerals are sodium, potassium, and magnesium, but noticeable amounts of phosphorous may be present, which could be associated with yeast nutrients in breweries [ 195 ]. Considering the vitamins, the B type is the most popular, especially niacin, thiamin, pantothenate, and riboflavin [ 218 ].

3.4.1 Current applications and potential in polymer technology

Due to the high content of proteins, vitamins, and minerals, the spent yeast is mostly applied as an additive in animal feeding [ 221 ]. It has been repeatedly proven that such application of this by-product shows very positive effects on the animals’ health. It may result in increased milk production, improved microflora, and enhanced resistance to various microorganisms [ 222 , 223 , 224 ]. Except for the animal feed, spent yeast was also investigated in human consumption. However, they show great potential due to the high contents of nucleic acids (6–15%), in particular ribonucleic acid, their use in an unmodified state is somewhat limited [ 216 ]. The ribonucleic acid is metabolized to the uric acid in the human body, which can cause gout [ 225 ]. Generally, the spent yeast application in animal and human nutrition was comprehensively discussed in dedicated review works [ 219 , 226 , 227 , 228 , 229 ].

Another broadly investigated application of spent yeast is cultivating microorganisms and other biotechnological processes [ 230 , 231 ]. Due to the beneficial composition of brewery spent yeast, various microorganisms cultivated on this by-product may grow noticeably faster than other yeast types, as reported by Ferreira et al. [ 232 ]. As a result, the spent yeast may be applied as a very efficient source of multiple enzymes, including proteinases [ 233 ], proteases [ 234 , 235 ], or pectinases [ 236 , 237 ]. Moreover, brewery spent yeast can be applied as nutrients during ethanol or lactic acid fermentation [ 238 , 239 ]. Pietrzak and Kawa-Rygielska [ 240 ] showed that the 5% addition of brewery spent yeast might increase the rate of sugar consumption and ethanol production resulting in even 11% enhancement of ethanol yield. Such an effect was ascribed to the high nitrogen content of the medium.

Other, less popular uses of spent yeast from beer production include methane production or application as biosorbent. Considering the energy production, spent yeast can be considered an excellent substrate for co-digestion purposes with other materials, including swine manure [ 241 ], spent grains [ 242 ], or crude glycerol [ 243 ].

Considering the polymer technology point of view, the brewery spent yeast show hardly any applications. The most promising and the closest to polymer technology is their use in fermentation processes generating lactic or succinic acid. The use of lactic acid in polymer technology was described in Sect. 3.1.3 . The succinic acid can be applied in the manufacturing of polyesters or alkyd resins [ 244 , 245 ].

Rakin et al. [ 246 ] reported that the application of spent yeast might increase the rate and yield of lactic acid fermentation due to the presence of amino acids, vitamins, and minerals. Similar observations were made by Champagne et al. [ 247 ]. According to Radosavljević et al. [ 248 ], the brewery spent yeast, combined even with other brewery by-products, can act as a low-cost fermentation medium for manufacturing of lactic acid.

Considering succinic acid production, the substitution of conventional yeast extracts with hydrolysate of spent brewery yeast as a nitrogen source was successfully achieved by Jiang et al. [ 249 ] and Chen et al. [ 250 ].

Nevertheless, to the best of our knowledge, there are no literature reports directly connecting the brewery spent yeast with the polymer technology.

4 Conclusions, future trends, and developments

The presented review summarized the literature works associated with the by-products of beer production. Their generation during brewing was discussed, and the beer market size, which affects the amount of by-products. Reported data about the composition of brewers’ spent grain, trub, spent hops, and spent yeast indicate that the application in polymer technology should be considered an auspicious method of their utilization, viable from the ecological and economic point of view. Moreover, their chemical composition, particularly the presence of compounds showing antimicrobial, antifungal and antioxidant activity, puts the brewing by-products as potential active fillers providing additional properties to polymer materials and promising intermediates in manufacturing various raw materials for polymer technology.

In order to take full advantage of the brewing by-products potential in polymer technology, future works should focus on the following issues:

Partial substitution of conventional lignocellulosic fillers in wood-polymer composites with brewers’ spent grain, which could enhance the resistance to thermooxidation.

Investigations related to the mechanisms of the enhancement of thermooxidative stability of various polymer materials by antioxidants present in brewing by-products.

The applications of brewing by-products in packaging materials or even edible films for food protection.

Liquefaction of brewing by-products resulting in raw materials for manufacturing of polyurethanes or polyester resins.

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This work was supported by the National Science Centre (NCN, Poland) in the frame of SONATINA 2 project 2018/28/C/ST8/00187–Structure and properties of lignocellulosic fillers modified in situ during reactive extrusion.

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Hejna, A. More than just a beer—the potential applications of by-products from beer manufacturing in polymer technology. emergent mater. 5 , 765–783 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42247-021-00304-4

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Beer Research Guide: Past Paper Topics

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Introduction

Students in past HST 417: History of Beer and Brewing classes have worked on a variety of topics. Some examples on this page are broad and in need of focus, but give you an idea of what has been researched and written about in the past.

• NOTE: these are topics, not thesis statements. 

Remember to be specific when choosing a topic and writing a thesis statement. Narrow to a place or time frame, compare companies or styles, and make sure there are primary sources to support your research. 

• If you are measuring success of a company, change in a demographic, or the impact of a law make sure you have measurements for evaluating. Success might mean more production or more awards won. Change in a demographic might mean fewer 20-25 year old consumers are drinking beer. The impact of Prohibition might have meant an increase in soda factories or closing of family businesses.  
• For example, if you are interested in beer advertising, considering narrowing it to changes in beer advertising in American print media in the 1980s. There is a section on this guide to get you started , are print primary sources in the Oregon Hops and Brewing Archives collections, and are digitized newspaper materials in the New York TimesMachine and advertisements in the Digital Public Library of America .

ADVERTISING AND MEDIA Impact of television advertising on midsize or small breweries. Government regulation of beer advertising. Alcohol advertising and adolescent drinking.  Music in beer commercials.  History of logos, branding, and trademarking of early beer brands. 

BIOGRAPHY Fred Eckhardt and his influence on homebrewing / craft beer in Oregon.  Joseph Owades and his influence on the creation of light beer.  History of the Anheuser-Busch family.  Carrie Nation and her work during Prohibition. 

BUSINESS History of X Brewing Company. History of consumer boycotts and labor disputes at the Coors Brewing Company.   

CHURCH Relationship of religion and beer.  Brewing and Catholic Saints.  Monastic influence on beer and brewing. Medieval guilds, economics, and the Catholic Church.  History of brewing and the Grimbergen Abbey.  Prohibition and anti-Catholic sentiment. 

CIDER History of Cider making in Oregon. Cider production in America (or England, or Europe).  Gender and cider production in Colonial Chesapeake.  History of orchard planting and management for cider apples. 

CULTURE Pub culture in England.  Saloons in American culture during the 19th and early 20th century. Intersection of beer and politics. Indigenous brewing in America (or Mexico).  Cultural and economic significance of Viking beer.  Comparison of Oktoberfest festivals in America and Germany.  Japanese drinking rituals.  Frontier alcohol culture: beer in Alaska-Yukon Territory mining towns. Baseball and beer.  Study of race or class in brewing industry.  Beer production and consumption in the COVID-19 era.

FOOD Beer in cooking.  Beer and food pairings. 

GENDER Women's role in the Temperance movements. Women in modern craft beer.  Women and beer production in ancient eras (e.g., Mesopotamia, Jaihu, China, Egypt).  Women, beer, and witches.  History of the Pink Boots Society Representation of women in beer advertising in the 1950s.  History of Japanese women and sake production. 

HEALTH Changes in perceived health benefits of fermented foods or drinks.   Hangover cures.  Preventative properties of hops compounds. 

HOMEBREWING Women and home brewing in Colonial America.   Home brewing in the middle ages in England. Historical brewing processes used in modern home brewing. 

HOPS Willamette Valley hop growing and the link to growth of craft beer in Oregon.  History of hop research in Corvallis, Oregon (OSU, USDA). Impact of the Cascade hop on the popularity of India Pale Ale. History of Chinese hop growers in the Pacific Northwest. Study of the demographics of hop pickers on the West Coast between 1860 and 1920. History of hop research in England.  Study of how monks used hops in beer. Pest management in hops / Insect ecology and hops. 

IMMIGRATION Impact of German and Austrian immigrants on Mexico’s brewing history.  German immigration and the impact on 19th century American beer styles.

INDUSTRY Impact of the Industrial Revolution on brewing in Chicago.  Workers and the industrialization of brewing in London. Impact of the three-tier system on microbreweries. 

OREGON Change in local media coverage of Oregon beer between the 1980s and the present. Impact of breweries on Bend’s local economy. History of brewing and saloons in Junction City. The Weinhard family and 19th century brewing in Oregon.  19th century German and Swiss immigrant brewers in Portland.  History of Great Western Malting Company. 

PLACE Study of craft brewing on the West Coast (looking at 2-4 companies or cities).  Beer and the revitalization of small towns in the Pacific Northwest.  Alaska Brewing Company, Yukon Brewing Company and craft beer in Alaska/Canada.  Beer in Asheville, North Carolina. Impact of brewing industry on regional identities in Bohemia and Germany. Beer-making in Scandinavia. 

PROHIBITION Adaptation of breweries in New York during Prohibition.  Impact of Prohibition on American beer consumption. Key people in the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union and/or Anti-Saloon League. Near beer and/or needle beer. Bootlegging during Prohibition. Prohibition and organized crime in Chicago Prohibition outside of the United States.

STYLE Chicha and maize beers in the South American Andes. Sake in Japan in the 20th century. History of Marzen beers. Development of the taxonomy of beer styles. India Pale Ale in Oregon (see also standard bitter IPA, aromatic IPA, Hazy IPA in New England). Czech brewing styles in America.  Porter and early industrial brewing in Britain. Gluten free beer in Africa.

SUSTAINABILITY Use of geothermal energy and other renewable resources in brewing. The influence and impact of sustainability practices at of Hopworks Urban Brewery.  Using waste water to brew beer. Sustainability efforts and marketing in the brewing industry.

TECHNOLOGY Evolution of equipment technologies for beer production History of carbonation in beer.  Evolution of the beer can. Impact of bottling technology on beer distribution.  Artificial refrigeration and American lager beer in the late 19th century.  Carlsberg Laboratory and its impact on scientific brewing.

WAR Growth in the Japanese brewing industry after WWII.  Canned beer and the Vietnam war. Beer in American soldier’s rations during WWII.  Brewing in Germany in World War I and World War II. The growth of Anheuser-Busch after WWII (1945-1980).

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Alcohol research and the alcoholic beverage industry: issues, concerns and conflicts of interest

Affiliation.

• 1 Department of Community Medicine and Health Care, University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Farmington, CT 06030-6325, USA. [email protected]
• PMID: 19133913
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1360-0443.2008.02433.x

Aims: Using terms of justification such as 'corporate social responsibility' and 'partnerships with the public health community', the alcoholic beverage industry (mainly large producers, trade associations and 'social aspects' organizations) funds a variety of scientific activities that involve or overlap with the work of independent scientists. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the ethical, professional and scientific challenges that have emerged from industry involvement in alcohol science.

Method: Source material came from an extensive review of organizational websites, newspaper articles, journal papers, letters to the editor, editorials, books, book chapters and unpublished documents.

Results: Industry involvement in alcohol science was identified in seven areas: (i) sponsorship of research funding organizations; (ii) direct financing of university-based scientists and centers; (iii) studies conducted through contract research organizations; (iv) research conducted by trade organizations and social aspects/public relations organizations; (v) efforts to influence public perceptions of research, research findings and alcohol policies; (vi) publication of scientific documents and support of scientific journals; and (vii) sponsorship of scientific conferences and presentations at conferences.

Conclusion: While industry involvement in research activities is increasing, it constitutes currently a rather small direct investment in scientific research, one that is unlikely to contribute to alcohol science, lead to scientific breakthroughs or reduce the burden of alcohol-related illness. At best, the scientific activities funded by the alcoholic beverage industry provide financial support and small consulting fees for basic and behavioral scientists engaged in alcohol research; at worst, the industry's scientific activities confuse public discussion of health issues and policy options, raise questions about the objectivity of industry-supported alcohol scientists and provide industry with a convenient way to demonstrate 'corporate responsibility' in its attempts to avoid taxation and regulation.

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Creditors to the collapsed beverages company, Mighty Craft , are owed about $22.3 million led by convertible bondholder Pure Asset Management.

The craft beer and spirit group, which went into administration on July 22, owns 25 per cent of fast-growing zero carb brewer Better Beer along with gin business Kangaroo Island Spirits.

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• Volume 78, Issue 9
• Estimated changes in free sugar consumption one year after the UK soft drinks industry levy came into force: controlled interrupted time series analysis of the National Diet and Nutrition Survey (2011–2019)
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• http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1857-2122 Nina Trivedy Rogers 1 ,
• http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3957-4357 Steven Cummins 2 ,
• Catrin P Jones 1 ,
• Oliver Mytton 3 ,
• Mike Rayner 4 ,
• Harry Rutter 5 ,
• Martin White 1 ,
• Jean Adams 1
• 1 MRC Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine, Institute of Metabolic Science, Cambridge Biomedical Campus , University of Cambridge , Cambridge , UK
• 2 Department of Public Health, Environments & Society , London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine , London , UK
• 3 Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health , University College London , London , UK
• 4 Nuffield Department of Population Health , University of Oxford , Oxford , UK
• 5 Department of Social and Policy Sciences , , University of Bath , Bath , UK
• Correspondence to Dr Nina Trivedy Rogers, MRC Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine, Institute of Metabolic Science, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 1TN, UK; nina.rogers{at}mrc-epid.cam.ac.uk

Background The UK soft drinks industry levy (SDIL) was announced in March 2016 and implemented in April 2018, encouraging manufacturers to reduce the sugar content of soft drinks. This is the first study to investigate changes in individual-level consumption of free sugars in relation to the SDIL.

Methods We used controlled interrupted time series (2011–2019) to explore changes in the consumption of free sugars in the whole diet and from soft drinks alone 11 months after SDIL implementation in a nationally representative sample of adults (>18 years; n=7999) and children (1.5–19 years; n=7656) drawn from the UK National Diet and Nutrition Survey. Estimates were based on differences between observed data and a counterfactual scenario of no SDIL announcement/implementation. Models included protein consumption (control) and accounted for autocorrelation.

Results Accounting for trends prior to the SDIL announcement, there were absolute reductions in the daily consumption of free sugars from the whole diet in children and adults of 4.8 g (95% CI 0.6 to 9.1) and 10.9 g (95% CI 7.8 to 13.9), respectively. Comparable reductions in free sugar consumption from drinks alone were 3.0 g (95% CI 0.1 to 5.8) and 5.2 g (95% CI 4.2 to 6.1). The percentage of total dietary energy from free sugars declined over the study period but was not significantly different from the counterfactual.

Conclusion The SDIL led to significant reductions in dietary free sugar consumption in children and adults. Energy from free sugar as a percentage of total energy did not change relative to the counterfactual, which could be due to simultaneous reductions in total energy intake associated with reductions in dietary free sugar.

• PUBLIC HEALTH

Data availability statement

Data are available in a public, open access repository. Data from the National Diet and Nutrition Survey years 1–11 (2008–09 to 2018–19) can be accessed on the UK Data Service ( https://ukdataservice.ac.uk/ ).

This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported (CC BY 4.0) license, which permits others to copy, redistribute, remix, transform and build upon this work for any purpose, provided the original work is properly cited, a link to the licence is given, and indication of whether changes were made. See:  https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ .

https://doi.org/10.1136/jech-2023-221051

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WHAT IS ALREADY KNOWN ON THIS TOPIC

High intakes of free sugars are associated with a range of non-communicable diseases. Sugar sweetened beverages constitute a major source of dietary free sugars in children and adults.

The UK soft drink industry levy (SDIL) led to a reduction in the sugar content in many sugar sweetened beverages and a reduction in household purchasing of sugar from drinks.

No previous study has examined the impact of the SDIL on total dietary consumption of free sugars at the individual level.

WHAT THIS STUDY ADDS

There were declining trends in the intake of dietary free sugar in adults and children prior to the UK SDIL.

Accounting for prior trends, 1 year after the UK SDIL came into force children and adults further reduced their free sugar intake from food and drink by approximately 5 g/day and 11 g/day, respectively. Children and adults reduced their daily free sugar intake from soft drinks alone by approximately 3 g/day and approximately 5 g/day, respectively.

Energy intake from free sugars as a proportion of total energy consumed did not change significantly following the UK SDIL, indicating energy intake from free sugar was reducing simultaneously with overall total energy intake.

HOW THIS STUDY MIGHT AFFECT RESEARCH, PRACTICE OR POLICY

The UK SDIL was associated with significant reductions in consumption of free sugars from soft drinks and across the whole diet and reinforces previous research indicating a reduction in purchasing. This evidence should be used to inform policy when extending or considering other sugar reduction strategies.

Energy intake from free sugars has been falling but levels remain higher than the 5% recommendation set by the WHO. Reductions in dietary sugar in relation to the SDIL may have driven significant reductions in overall energy.

Introduction

High consumption of free sugars is associated with non-communicable diseases. 1 Guidelines from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UK Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) suggest limiting free sugar consumption to below 5% of total energy intake to achieve maximum health benefits, 1 2 equivalent to daily maximum amounts of 30 g for adults, 24 g for children (7–10 years) and 19 g for young children (4–6 years). In the UK, consumption of free sugar is well above the recommended daily maximum, although levels have fallen over the last decade. 3 For example, adolescents consume approximately 70 g/day 4 and obtain 12.3% of their energy from free sugars. 3 Sugar sweetened beverages (SSBs) constitute a major source of free sugar in the UK diet, 2 5 and are the largest single source for children aged 11–18 years where they make up approximately one-third of their daily sugar intake. 6 A growing body of evidence has shown a link between consumption of SSBs and higher risk of weight gain, type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease and premature mortality, 7 such that the WHO recommends taxation of SSBs in order to reduce over-consumption of free sugars and to improve health. 8 To date, >50 countries have introduced taxation on SSBs, which has been associated with a reduction in sales and dietary intake of free sugar from SSBs. 9 Reductions in the prevalence of childhood obesity 10 11 and improvements in dental health outcomes 12 13 have also been reported.

In March 2016 the UK government announced the UK soft drink industry levy (SDIL), a two-tier levy on manufacturers, importers and bottlers of soft drinks which would come into force in March 2018. 14 The levy was designed to incentivise manufacturers to reformulate and reduce the free sugar content of SSBs (see details in online supplemental text 1 ).

Supplemental material

One year after the UK SDIL was implemented there was evidence of a reduction in the sugar content of soft drinks 15 and households on average reduced the amount of sugar purchased from soft drinks by 8 g/week with no evidence of substitution with confectionary or alcohol. 16 However, lack of available data meant it was not possible to examine substitution of purchasing other sugary foods and drinks, which has previously been suggested in some but not all studies. 17 18 Household purchasing only approximates individual consumption because it captures only those products brought into the home, products may be shared unequally between household members, and it does not account for waste.

To examine the effects of the SDIL on total sugar intake at the individual level, in this study we used surveillance data collected using 3- or 4-day food diaries as part of the UK National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS). We aimed to examine changes in absolute and relative consumption of free sugars from soft drinks alone and from both food and drinks (allowing us to consider possible substitutions with other sugary food items), following the announcement and implementation of the UK SDIL.

Data source

We used 11 years of data (2008–2019) from the NDNS. Data collection, sampling design and information on response is described in full elsewhere. 19 In brief, NDNS is a continuous national cross-sectional survey capturing information on food consumption, nutritional status and nutrient intake inside and outside of the home in a representative annual sample of approximately 500 adults and 500 children (1.5–18 years) living in private households in the UK. Participants are sampled throughout the year, such that in a typical month about 40 adults and 40 children participate (further details are shown in online supplemental text 2 ).

Outcomes of interest

Outcomes of interest were absolute and relative changes in the total intake of dietary free sugar from (1) all food and soft drinks combined and (2) from soft drinks alone. A definition of free sugar is given in online supplemental text 3 . Drink categories examined were those that fell within the following NDNS categories: soft drinks – not low calorie; soft drinks – low calorie; semi-skimmed milk; whole milk; skimmed milk; fruit juice, 1% fat milk and other milk and cream. Additionally, we examined absolute and relative changes in percentage energy from free sugar in (1) food and soft drinks and (2) soft drinks alone. While examination of changes in sugar consumption and percentage energy from sugar across the whole diet (food and drink) captures overall substitutions with other sugar-containing products following the UK SDIL, examination of sugar consumption from soft drinks alone provides a higher level of specificity to the SDIL.

Protein intake was selected as a non-equivalent dependent control. It was not a nutritional component specifically targeted by the intervention or other government interventions and therefore is unlikely to be affected by the SDIL but could still be affected by confounding factors such as increases in food prices 20 (see online supplemental text 4 ).

Statistical analysis

Controlled interrupted time series (ITS) analyses were performed to examine changes in the outcomes in relation to the UK SDIL separately in adults and children. We analysed data at the quarterly level over 11 years with the first data point representing dates from April to June 2008 and the last representing dates from January to March 2019. Model specifications are shown in online supplemental text 5 . Where diary date entries extended over two quarters, the earlier quarter was designated as the time point for analysis. Generalised least squares models were used. Autocorrelation in the time series was determined using Durbin–Watson tests and from visualisations of autocorrelation and partial correlation plots. Autocorrelation-moving average correlation structure with order (p) and moving average (q) parameters were used and selected to minimise the Akaike information criterion in each model. Trends in free sugar consumption prior to the announcement of SDIL in April 2016 were used to estimate counterfactual scenarios of what would have happened if the SDIL had not been announced or come into force. Thus, the interruption point was the 3-month period beginning April 2016. Absolute and relative differences in consumption of free sugars/person/day were estimated by calculating the difference between the observed and counterfactual values at quarterly time point 45. To account for non-response and to ensure the sample distribution represented the UK distribution of females and males and age profile, weights provided by NDNS were used and adapted for analysis of adults and children separately. 21 A study protocol has been published 22 and the study is registered ( ISRCTN18042742 ). For changes to the original protocol see online supplemental text 6 . All statistical analyses were performed in R version 4.1.0.

Data from 7999 adults and 7656 children were included across 11 years representing approximately 40 children and 40 adults each month. Table 1 gives descriptive values for the outcomes of interest. Compared with the pre-announcement period, free sugars consumed from all soft drinks reduced by around one-half in children and one-third in adults in the post-announcement period. Total dietary free sugar consumption and percentage of total dietary energy derived from free sugars also declined. Mean protein consumption was relatively stable over both periods in children and adults. The age and sex of the children and adults were very similar in the pre- and post-announcement periods.

• View inline

Mean amount of free sugar (g) consumed in children and adults per day during the study period before and after the announcement of the soft drinks industry levy (SDIL)

All estimates of change in free sugar consumption referred to below are based on g/individual/day in the 3-month period beginning January 2019 and compared with the counterfactual scenario of no UK SDIL announcement and implementation.

Change in free sugar consumption (soft drinks only)

In children, consumption of free sugars from soft drinks was approximately 27 g/day at the start of the study period but fell steeply throughout. By the end of the study period mean sugar consumption from soft drinks was approximately 10 g/day ( figure 1 ). Overall, relative to the counterfactual scenario, there was an absolute reduction in daily free sugar consumption from soft drinks of 3.0 g (95% CI 0.1 to 5.8) or a relative reduction of 23.5% (95% CI 46.0% to 0.9%) in children ( table 2 ). In adults, free sugar consumption at the beginning of the study was lower than that of children (approximately 17 g/day) and was declining prior to the SDIL announcement, although less steeply ( figure 1 ). Following the SDIL announcement, free sugar consumption from soft drinks appeared to decline even more steeply. There was an absolute reduction in free sugar consumption from soft drinks of 5.2 g (95% CI 4.2 to 6.1) or a relative reduction of 40.4% (95% CI 32.9% to 48.0%) in adults relative to the counterfactual ( figure 1 , table 2 ).

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Observed and modelled daily consumption (g) of free sugar from drink products per adult/child from April 2008 to March 2019. Red points show observed data and solid red lines (with light red shadows) show modelled data (and 95% CIs) of free sugar consumed from drinks. The dashed red line indicates the counterfactual line based on pre-announcement trends and if the announcement and implementation had not happened. Modelled protein consumption from drinks (control group) was removed from the graph to include resolution but is available in the supplementary section. The first and second dashed lines indicate the announcement and implementation of the soft drinks industry levy (SDIL), respectively.

Change in free sugar consumption in food and drink and energy from free sugar as a proportion of total energy compared with the counterfactual scenario of no announcement and implementation of the UK soft drinks industry levy (SDIL)

Change in total dietary free sugar consumption (food and soft drinks combined)

Consumption of total dietary free sugars in children was approximately 70 g/day at the beginning of the study but this fell to approximately 45 g/day by the end of the study ( figure 2 ). Relative to the counterfactual scenario, there was an absolute reduction in total dietary free sugar consumption of 4.8 g (95% CI 0.6 to 9.1) or relative reduction of 9.7% (95% CI 18.2% to 1.2%) in children ( figure 2 ; table 2 ). In adults, consumption of total dietary free sugar consumption at the beginning of the study was approximately 60 g/day falling to approximately 45 g/day by the end of the study ( figure 2 ). Relative to the counterfactual scenario there was an absolute reduction in total dietary free sugar consumption in adults of 10.9 g (95% CI 7.8 to 13.9) or a relative reduction of 19.8% (95% CI 25.4% to 14.2%). Online supplemental figures show that, relative to the counterfactual, dietary protein consumption and energy from protein was more or less stable across the study period (see online supplemental figures S3–S6 ).

Observed and modelled daily consumption (g) of free sugar from food and drink products per adult/child from April 2008 to March 2019. Red points show observed data and solid red lines (with light red shadows) show modelled data (and 95% CIs) of free sugar consumed from food and drinks. The dashed red line indicates the counterfactual line based on pre-announcement trends and if the announcement and implementation had not happened. Modelled protein consumption from food and drinks (control group) was removed from the graph to include resolution but is available in the supplementary section. The first and second dashed lines indicate the announcement and implementation of the soft drinks industry levy (SDIL), respectively.

Change in energy from free sugar as a proportion of total energy

The percentage of energy from total dietary free sugar decreased across the study period but did not change significantly relative to the counterfactual scenario in children or adults, with relative changes in free sugar consumption of −7.6 g (95% CI −41.7 to 26.5) and −24.3 g (95% CI −54.0 to 5.4), respectively (see online supplemental figure S1 and table 2 ). Energy from free sugar in soft drinks as a proportion of total energy from soft drinks also decreased across the study period but did not change significantly relative to the counterfactual (see online supplemental figure S2 ).

Summary of main findings

This study is the first to examine individual level consumption of free sugars in the total diet (and in soft drinks only) in relation to the UK SDIL. Using nationally representative population samples, we found that approximately 1 year following the UK SDIL came into force there was a reduction in total dietary free sugar consumed by children and adults compared with what would have been expected if the SDIL had not been announced and implemented. In children this was equivalent to a reduction of 4.8 g of free sugars/day from food and soft drinks, of which 3 g/day came from soft drinks alone, suggesting that the reduction of sugar in the diet was primarily due to a reduction of sugar from soft drinks. In adults, reductions in dietary sugar appeared to come equally from food and drink with an 11 g reduction in food and drink combined, of which 5.2 g was from soft drinks only. There was no significant reduction compared with the counterfactual in the percentage of energy intake from free sugars in the total diet or from soft drinks alone in both children and adults, suggesting that energy intake from free sugar was reducing simultaneously with overall total energy intake.

Comparison with other studies and interpretation of results

Our finding of a reduction in consumption of free sugars from soft drinks after accounting for pre-SDIL announcement trends is supported by previous research showing a large reduction in the proportion of available soft drinks with over 5 g of sugar/100 mL, the threshold at which soft drinks become levy liable. 15 Furthermore, efforts of the soft drink industry to reformulate soft drinks were found to have led to significant reductions in the volume and per capita sales of sugar from these soft drinks. 23

Our findings are consistent with recent research showing reductions in purchasing of sugar from soft drinks of approximately 8 g/household/week (equivalent to approximately 3 g/person/week or approximately 0.5 g/person/day) 1 year after the SDIL came into force. 16 The estimates from the current study suggest larger reductions in consumption (eg, 3 g free sugar/day from soft drinks in children) than previously reported for purchasing. Methodological differences may explain these differences in estimated effect sizes. Most importantly, the previous study used data on soft drink purchases that were for consumption in the home only. In contrast, we captured information on consumption (rather than purchasing) in and out of the home. Consumption of food and particularly soft drinks outside of the home in young people (1–21 years) increases with age and makes a substantial contribution to total free sugar intakes, highlighting the importance of recording both in home and out of home sugar consumption. 4 Purchasing and consumption data also treat waste differently; purchase data record what comes into the home and therefore include waste, whereas consumption data specifically aim to capture leftovers and waste and exclude it from consumption estimates. While both studies use weights to make the population samples representative of the UK, there may be differences in the study participant characteristics in the two studies, which may contribute to the different estimates.

Consistent with other studies, 24 we found that across the 11-year study period we observed a downward trend in free sugar and energy intake in adults and children. 3 A decline in consumption of free sugars was observed in the whole diet rather than just soft drinks, suggesting that consumption of free sugar from food was also declining from as early as 2008. One reason might be the steady transition from sugar in the diet to low-calorie artificial sweeteners, which globally have had an annual growth of approximately 5.1% between 2008 and 2015. 25

Public health signalling around the time of the announcement of the levy may also have contributed to the changes we observed. Public acceptability and perceived effectiveness of the SDIL was reported to be high 4 months before and approximately 20 months after the levy came into force. 26 Furthermore, awareness of the SDIL was found to be high among parents of children living in the UK, with most supporting the levy and intending to reduce purchases of SSBs as a result. 27 Health signalling was also found following the implementation of the SSB tax in Mexico, with one study reporting that most adults (65%) were aware of the tax and that those aware of the tax were more likely to think the tax would reduce purchases of SSBs, 28 although a separate study found that adolescents in Mexico were mostly unaware of the tax, 29 suggesting that public health signalling may differ according to age.

In 2016 the UK government announced a voluntary sugar reduction programme as part of its childhood obesity plan (which also included SDIL) with the aim of reducing sugar sold by industry by 5% no later than 2018 and by 20% in time for 2020 through both reformulation and portion size reduction. 30 While the programme only managed to achieve overall sugar reductions of approximately 3.5%, this did include higher reductions in specific products such as yoghurts (−17%) and cereals (−13%) by 2018 which may have contributed to some of the observed reductions in total sugar consumption (particularly from foods) around the time of the SDIL. While there is strong evidence that the UK SDIL led to significant reformulation 15 and reductions in purchases of sugar from soft drinks, 16 the products targeted by the sugar reduction programme were voluntary with no taxes or penalties if targets were not met, possibly leading to less incentive for manufacturers to reformulate products that were high in sugar. The 5-year duration of the voluntary sugar reduction programme also makes it challenging to attribute overall reductions using interruption points that we assigned to the ITS to align with the date of the SDIL announcement. The soft drinks categories in our study included levy liable and non-levy liable drinks because we wanted to examine whether individuals were likely to substitute levy liable drinks for high sugar non-liable options. The decline in sugar consumed overall and in soft drinks in relation to the levy suggests that individuals did not change their diets substantially by substituting more sugary foods and drinks. This is consistent with findings from a previous study that found no changes in relation to the levy in sugar purchased from fruit juice, powder used to make drinks or confectionery. 16

Consistent with previous analyses, 3 our findings showed that there was a downward trend in energy intake from sugar as a proportion of total energy across the duration of the study. While there was no reduction compared with the counterfactual scenario (which was also decreasing), our estimates suggest that, by 2019, on average energy from sugar as a proportion of all energy appears to be in line with the WHO recommendation of 10% but not the more recent guidelines of 5% which may bring additional health benefits. 1 31 This finding may suggest that reductions in energy intake from sugar were reducing in concert with overall energy intake and indeed may have been driving it. However, the magnitude of calories associated with the reduction in free sugars, compared with the counterfactual scenario in both adults and children, was modest and thus potentially too small to reflect significant changes in the percentage of energy from sugar. In children, a daily reduction of 4.8 g sugar equates to approximately 19.2 kilocalories out of an approximate daily intake of approximately 2000 kilocalories which is equivalent to approximately 1% reduction in energy intake. Furthermore, overall measures of dietary energy are also likely to involve a degree of error reducing the level of precision in any estimates.

Our estimates of changes in sugar consumption in relation to SDIL suggest that adults may have experienced a greater absolute reduction in sugar than children, which is not consistent with estimates of the distributional impact of the policy. 32 However, our understanding may be aided by the visualisations afforded by graphical depictions of our ITS graphs. Children’s consumption of sugar at the beginning of the study period, particularly in soft drinks, was higher than in adults but reducing at a steeper trajectory, which will have influenced our estimated counterfactual scenario of what would have happened without the SDIL. This steep downward trajectory could not have continued indefinitely as there is a lower limit for sugar consumption. No account for this potential ‘floor effect’ was made in the counterfactual. Adults had a lower baseline of sugar consumption, but their trajectory of sugar consumption decreased at a gentler trajectory, potentially allowing more scope for improvement over the longer run.

Reductions in the levels of sugar in food and drink may have also impacted different age groups and children and adults differently. For example, the largest single contributor to free sugars in younger children aged 4–10 years is cereal and cereal products, followed by soft drinks and fruit juice. By the age of 11–18 years, soft drinks provide the largest single source (29%) of dietary free sugar. For adults the largest source of free sugars is sugar, preserves and confectionery, followed by non-alcoholic beverages. 5

Strengths and limitations

The main strengths of the study include the use of nationally representative data on individual consumption of food and drink in and out of the home using consistent food diary assessment over a 4-day period, setting it apart from other surveys which have used food frequency questionnaires, 24 hour recall, shortened dietary instruments or a mixture of these approaches across different survey years. 33 The continual collection of data using consistent methods enabled us to analyse dietary sugar consumption and energy quarterly over 11 years (or 45 time points) including the announcement and implementation period of the SDIL. Information on participant age allowed us to examine changes in sugar consumption in adults and children separately. Limited sample sizes restricted our use of weekly or monthly data and prevented us from examining differences between sociodemographic groups. At each time point we used protein consumption in food and drink as a non-equivalent control category, strengthening our ability to adjust for time-varying confounders such as contemporaneous events. The trends in counterfactual scenarios of sugar consumption and energy from free sugar as part of total energy were based on trends from April 2008 to the announcement of the UK SDIL (March 2016); however, it is possible that the direction of sugar consumption may have changed course. Ascribing changes in free sugar consumption to the SDIL should include exploration of other possible interventions that might have led to a reduction in sugar across the population. We are only aware of the wider UK government’s voluntary sugar reduction programme implemented across overlapping timelines (2015–2020) and leading to reductions in sugar consumption that were well below the targets set. 30 In turn, under-reporting of portion sizes and high energy foods, which may be increasingly seen as less socially acceptable, has been suggested as a common error in self-reported dietary intake with some groups including older teenagers and females, especially those who are living with obesity, more likely to underestimate energy intake. 34 35 However, there is no evidence to suggest this would have changed as a direct result of the SDIL. 36

Conclusions

Our findings indicate that the UK SDIL led to reductions in consumption of dietary free sugars in adults and children 1 year after it came into force. Energy from free sugar as a proportion of overall energy intake was falling prior to the UK SDIL but did not change in relation to the SDIL, suggesting that a reduction in sugar may have driven a simultaneous reduction in overall energy intake.

Ethics statements

Patient consent for publication.

Not applicable.

Ethics approval

For NDNS 2008–2013, ethical approval was obtained from the Oxfordshire A Research Ethics Committee (Reference number: 07/H0604/113). For NDNS 2014–2017, ethical approval was given from the Cambridge South NRES Committee (Reference number: 13/EE/0016). Participants gave informed consent to participate in the study before taking part.

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Supplementary materials

Supplementary data.

This web only file has been produced by the BMJ Publishing Group from an electronic file supplied by the author(s) and has not been edited for content.

• Data supplement 1

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Contributors OM, SC, MR, HR, MW and JA conceptualised and acquired funding for the study. NTR carried out statistical analyses. NTR and JA drafted the manuscript. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.

As the guarantor, NTR had access to the data, controlled the decision to publish and accepts full responsibility for the work and the conduct of the study.

Funding NTR, OM, MW and JA were supported by the Medical Research Council (grant Nos MC_UU_00006/7). This project was funded by the NIHR Public Health Research programme (grant nos 16/49/01 and 16/130/01) to MW. The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the National Health Service, the NIHR, or the Department of Health and Social Care, UK. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript.

Competing interests None declared.

Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

Supplemental material This content has been supplied by the author(s). It has not been vetted by BMJ Publishing Group Limited (BMJ) and may not have been peer-reviewed. Any opinions or recommendations discussed are solely those of the author(s) and are not endorsed by BMJ. BMJ disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on the content. Where the content includes any translated material, BMJ does not warrant the accuracy and reliability of the translations (including but not limited to local regulations, clinical guidelines, terminology, drug names and drug dosages), and is not responsible for any error and/or omissions arising from translation and adaptation or otherwise.

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Sabotage as Industrial Policy

We characterize sabotage, exemplified by recent U.S. policies concerning China's semiconductor industry, as trade policy. For some (but not all) goods, completely destroying foreigners’ productivity increases domestic real income by shifting the location of production and improving the terms of trade. The gross benefit of sabotage can be summarized by a few sufficient statistics: trade and demand elasticities and import and production shares. The cost of sabotage is determined by countries' relative unit labor costs for the sabotaged goods. We find important non-monotinicities: for semi-conductors, partially sabotaging foreign production would lower US real income, while comprehensive sabotage would raise it.

We are grateful to Corina Boar, Raquel Fernandez, Sam Kortum, and Jesse Schreger for valuable comments. Please contact [email protected] with any questions or comments. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research.

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Why Canada has become a critical supplier of crude oil to the U.S.

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In the car-centric United States, we have a bit of a love affair with oil. And that romance is really an international love story — one where our neighbors to the north play a starring role, accounting for a growing share of oil that the U.S. refines and imports.

If Canadian crude and U.S. refineries were in a rom-com, Canadian crude would be the boy next door, the one U.S. refiners overlooked when they were courting Latin American oil back in the late 1980s and early ’90s.  

“So, you can think of Venezuela, Mexico,” said Kevin Birn with S&P Global Commodity Insights, alluding to when the world thought we were running out of oil. “The Gulf Coast refineries were looking for security of supply. A lot of these refiners entered into long-term joint-venture agreements with the suppliers to get access to security of that heavy barrel supply.” 

Big money was put into refining capacity that catered to the heavy Latin American oil, which is more expensive to refine into diesel or gasoline, Birn said.

“You need the ability to reach higher temperatures, and you need to have specially designed facilities that can handle that as well,” Birn said. “And so those joint ventures led to an expansion in U.S. refining capacity to process heavy barrels, first in the Gulf Coast region in the early ’90s, and that continued through to the early 2000s.” 

Those refineries had really invested in their relationship with heavy Latin American oil.

“But as we entered this century, millennia, we saw that kind of slow down,” Birn said. “A lot of those deals were rolling off, and the Latin American supply began to slow.” 

And even though we saw fracking and horizontal drilling transform the Permian Basin in West Texas into one of the most significant oil producing regions in the world, the oil there was not as compatible with the expensive new U.S. refineries, said Ryan Kellogg with the University of Chicago. 

“All of that capacity was built before the shale boom started. And all of a sudden, we had all this really nice, light, sweet crude available in the U.S.,” Kellogg said. “So, we’re now in this position where we have these very high-tech refineries that can process the really heavy crude.” 

We needed to get that heavy crude from somewhere else.  

“Think about the oil sands or tar sands of Alberta. Basically, this is like really thick, heavy, goopy crude oil,” Kellogg said.

And Chuck Mason with the University of Wyoming said Alberta’s oil sands also had a geographical advantage.

“In the grand scheme of things, not super-duper far away from the refining sector,” Mason said.

And for Canada, exporting heavy crude by pipeline and rail to its oil-hungry southern neighbor made sense. 

“This source of production that we’re talking about is the very epitome of land a landlocked resource,” Mason said. “U.S. refiners were just better buyers, because they were there easier to connect. The transactions costs associated with connecting up with them are massively smaller.”

It was a sensible match. 

“The relationship was very symbiotic,” Birn said, and that has only strengthened over the years. “Canadian growth occurred at such a rate and scale that it overwhelmed that region, and additional infrastructure was designed to deliver that crude oil into the Gulf Coast region of the United States, and increasing volumes and then making it to the U.S. Gulf Coast.” 

Many miles of new pipeline later, 60% of   U.S. crude oil imports come from Canada, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.   A decade ago, it was just 33%.

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Character.AI CEO Noam Shazeer returns to Google

In a big move, Character.AI co-founder and CEO Noam Shazeer is returning to Google after leaving the company in October 2021 to found the a16z-backed chatbot startup. In his previous stint, Shazeer spearheaded the team of researchers that built  LaMDA  (Language Model for Dialogue Applications), a language model that was used for conversational AI tools .

Character.AI co-founder Daniel De Freitas is also joining Google with some other employees from the startup. Dominic Perella, Character.AI’s general counsel, is becoming an interim CEO at the startup. The company noted that most of the staff is staying at Character.AI.

Google is also signing a non-exclusive agreement with Character.AI to use its tech.

“I am super excited to return to Google and work as part of the Google DeepMind team. I am so proud of everything we built at Character.AI over the last 3 years. I am confident that the funds from the non-exclusive Google licensing agreement, together with the incredible Character.AI team, positions Character.AI for continued success in the future,” Shazeer said in a statement given to TechCrunch.

Google said that Shazeer is joining the DeepMind research team but didn’t specify his or De Freitas’s exact roles.

“We’re particularly thrilled to welcome back Noam, a preeminent researcher in machine learning, who is joining Google DeepMind’s research team, along with a small number of his colleagues,” Google said in a statement. “This agreement will provide increased funding for Character.AI to continue growing and to focus on building personalized AI products for users around the world,” a Google spokesperson said.

Character.AI has raised over $150 million in funding, largely from a16z.

“When Noam and Daniel started  Character.AI , our goal of personalized superintelligence required a full stack approach. We had to pre-train models, post-train them to power the experiences that make  Character.AI  special, and build a product platform with the ability to reach users globally,” Character AI mentioned in its blog announcing the move.

“Over the past two years, however, the landscape has shifted; many more pre-trained models are now available. Given these changes, we see an advantage in making greater use of third-party LLMs alongside our own. This allows us to devote even more resources to post-training and creating new product experiences for our growing user base.”

There is a possibility that different regulatory bodies, such as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and the Department of Justice (DoJ) in the U.S. and the EU will scrutinize these reverse acqui-hires closely. Last month. the U.K’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) issued a notice saying that it is looking into Microsoft hiring key people from Inflection AI to understand if the tech giant is trying to avoid regulatory oversight. The FTC opened a similar investigation in June to look into Microsoft’s $650 million deal.

You can reach out to this reporter at [email protected] by email and on signal at ivan.42 .

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