4 beer and wine discoveries

(Press-News.org) Scientists regularly uncork fresh insights into beer and wine — even though they were invented thousands of years ago. Four recent discoveries go beyond buzz and bouquet, diving into the haziness and gluten content of beer as well as the astringent taste and potential health impacts of wine. Sip back and learn more about research published in ACS’ Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. Reporters can request free access to these papers by emailing newsroom@acs.org.

Yeast extracts add haze to lager beer. Hazy beer styles are becoming more popular, and their namesake characteristic usually comes from tiny particles made of barley proteins and hop polyphenols. Alternatively, to produce haziness, researchers have added yeast extracts to two brands of clear lager. The additions made both beverages extremely cloudy because of interactions between ribonucleic acids (RNA) in the extract and proteins in the beer. The researchers say that yeast RNA extracts could be another way to create desirable haziness levels. Lateral flow test detects gluten in beer, food. People who want or need to avoid gluten should know whether their drinks are safe to consume. A new lateral flow strip detects this protein in food and drinks, and it is sensitive to concentrations from 0 to more than 20 parts per million (ppm). The strip’s three lines indicate four ranges below the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s gluten-free limit (20 ppm), showing results in less than three minutes with 98% accuracy. Researchers demonstrated the device’s effectiveness using real-world samples, including foods labeled gluten-free and a gluten-containing beer. Tannins in red wine make you pucker. A recent small-scale study examined why red wine has an astringent taste, often described as drying or lip-puckering. Trained tasting panelists rated red wines with higher tannin content as more astringent. The researchers found that tannins act like a lid for the tiny aquaporin channels in the tongue and salivary glands, letting water exit more than it enters. They say this discovery helps explain red wine’s drying mouthfeel and enhances the understanding of beverages’ perceived characteristics. Wine sulfites change the gut microbiome. Sulfites help wine last longer but can cause headaches or digestive issues for some people. So, researchers studied in lab tests how sulfites added to wine and an ethanol-containing liquid affect gut bacteria. They passed the samples through a three-stage process meant to mimic human digestion. After digestion, samples with sulfites contained lower amounts of some beneficial bacteria and greater amounts of bacteria related to negative health effects than before digestion. However, the changes were less in the real wine samples, which the researchers say suggests compounds, such as polyphenols, in wine offered slight protection.

###

The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1876 and chartered by the U.S. Congress. ACS is committed to improving all lives through the transforming power of chemistry. Its mission is to advance scientific knowledge, empower a global community and champion scientific integrity, and its vision is a world built on science. The Society is a global leader in promoting excellence in science education and providing access to chemistry-related information and research through its multiple research solutions, peer-reviewed journals, scientific conferences, e-books and weekly news periodical Chemical & Engineering News. ACS journals are among the most cited, most trusted and most read within the scientific literature; however, ACS itself does not conduct chemical research. As a leader in scientific information solutions, its CAS division partners with global innovators to accelerate breakthroughs by curating, connecting and analyzing the world’s scientific knowledge. ACS’ main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.

Registered journalists can subscribe to the ACS journalist news portal on EurekAlert! to access embargoed and public science press releases. For media inquiries, contact newsroom@acs.org.

Note: ACS does not conduct research but publishes and publicizes peer-reviewed scientific studies.

Follow us: Facebook | LinkedIn | Instagram

END