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I am very thin and it was suggested that I drink beer to put on weight. Would drinking beer help to put on weight? If yes, how many beers should I drink in a week to put on weight? If no, could one please explain briefly why this is so.

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  • There's nothing wrong with being thin, providing you are not clinically underweight. What's your BMI? When I was 40 and putting on weight, a friend who was the same age as myself still weighed the same as he did when he was 20. Lucky man. Get your thyroid function checked if you think that something is wrong.
    – Mick
    Commented Mar 18, 2017 at 15:12
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    The BMI has been discredited as a measurement of weight. If you are concerned about being thin, go and see your doctor. However it might just be who you are. Beer will simply give you a 'beer gut'. Once having seen a medical practitioner, then maybe see a nutritionist and join a gym and speak to the gym manager/personal trainer about putting on mass, not just weight. Commented Mar 19, 2017 at 16:32
  • Drink protein shakes with a shot of olive oil added, healthier for you. Commented Oct 31, 2017 at 13:37

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Beer can make you gain weight by three means, but you shall NOT pursue it !

First is alcohol, which is a byproduct of the fermentation of starch by yeast. Starch is a carbohydrate, and it has it's own nutriting quality, including energy. Its energy is transferred to alcohol.

If the energy it carries is not used by basal metabolism or physical activity, it'll be stored. It is why non pathological drinker get fat. But drinking regularly may drive you to pathological drinking, even when you never get drunk nor make any excess.

Second is cereal malt (beer component) and non fermented starch itself : first is an aliment (cattle) and second is a carbohydrate : they are particularly fit for storing when unused.

Third is oestrogen. Hop, the flavouring and conservative plant used in beer production carries a phyto-oestrogen, which has the same effect on the human body as the feminine hormone. One of the effect of oestrogen is modifying the fat storage (many a women complain on her weight change under contraceptive pills), both for developing sexual character (women's are the sole primate with permanent breasts) and storing fat in case of starvation during pregnancy. You already guessed why messing with hormonal rates in your body is no option.

I strongly recommend you to seek help in gaining weight from a trained medical staff, or at least from a specialized Stack Exchange site. A change in your feeding habits may be way more efficient and less hazardous.

Basically, you must eat and brink more than your body burns, while making the right amount of physical exercise to gain muscles as well as body fat. Beer nutriment don't really matches the kind of food you shall seek with this objective.

Sources: Wikipedia, French medical awareness websites, and my personal experience as a beer cellarman.

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In general beer is not considered healthy. In excess it is definitely not healthy. Alcohol is hard on the liver. Alcohol withdrawal has the highest death rate.

Up to 2 beers a day is generally considered a maximum intake. You would pick up like 300 calories. There are better ways to pick up 300 calories.

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  • Yes, beer is healthy -- it just depends on the amount. Beer has found to be beneficial for bones, red wine to the heart. Can you provide some links on the alcohol withdrawal death rate? Is this for addicts? We were not talking about addiction here, were we?
    – Robert
    Commented Nov 9, 2017 at 18:33
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One pound can be gained through the consumption of about 3500 calories more than you burn. If you drink a brand of beer with 200 calories per serving, it'd take 18 servings to gain a pound (assuming your diet otherwise negates your metabolism). That pound, likely, would be fat.

I don't think you really want to do this, as enjoyable as you may find beer.

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  • Where do you get 3600 calories?
    – paparazzo
    Commented Oct 29, 2017 at 20:18
  • It's pretty close to fat calories per pound (3500), maybe just a typo?
    – Nat Bowman
    Commented Oct 31, 2017 at 18:13
  • yep, was a typo. Fixed it! Commented Nov 14, 2017 at 23:41

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