Docs Prescribed Guinness to Pregnant Girls within the Nineteen Twenties for Its Iron Content material?

For years, claims have circulated that within the Nineteen Twenties, medical doctors in Eire and England prescribed the darkish Irish beer Guinness to pregnant ladies:

This submit on Reddit (archived) had garnered 8,600 upvotes and 361 feedback as of this writing. On X, the claim (archived) that individuals used to suppose Guinness was good for being pregnant additionally appeared:

That declare is true. Not solely did medical doctors and laypeople suppose Guinness was good for being pregnant, the stout was additionally perceived to be good for well being basically, and the corporate even based its marketing on that idea:

(Dayna Bateman/Flickr)

Within the Nineteen Twenties, Guinness picked up on claims its customers made that having a pint would assist them battle all kinds of illnesses — fatigue, lack of sleep, basic weak spot — and made them stronger. These claims went again to the early 1900s, so the corporate started to advertise its product as a tonic of kinds. It even reached out to medical professionals, selling the beer the way in which a pharmaceutical firm promotes its medicine. Ultimately, medical doctors started to prescribe Guinness to their sufferers, together with pregnant ladies. Based on the U.Ok.’s Royal College of Physicians:

Many medical doctors responded positively, sending anecdotes and testimonials to their very own private use of Guinness as a tonic, and the way they used it with their sufferers. It was believed to be wealthy in iron, so medical doctors would typically prescribe Guinness to sufferers following an operation, or to pregnant ladies. This help from the medical world strengthened the marketing campaign and it remained central to the Guinness model for the subsequent 40 years.

In hospitals in Eire, new moms additionally received a bottle of Guinness a day to help the manufacturing of milk. Beer has lengthy had the popularity of stimulating lactation, and there, too, Guinness was thought to try this greater than different beers.

In equity, Guinness does have some well being advantages different beers lack. As fermented drinks, beers include vitamin B, prebiotics, soluble fiber and antioxidants. Along with that, Guinness additionally comprises extra vitamin B and fiber than most (together with different stouts), all this for fewer energy and a decrease alcohol quantity than different broadly marketed beers. 

However alcohol is alcohol, and like different alcoholic drinks, Guinness’ results are detrimental with overuse. Analysis signifies that it is safer to not drink alcohol throughout being pregnant in any respect, especially in early pregnancy. As for lactation, the analysis is inconclusive on whether or not beer stimulates prolactin, the hormone liable for milk manufacturing, and it’s a identified undeniable fact that in massive amount, alcohol actually inhibits both the “letdown” (the milk ejection reflex) and milk manufacturing. Power ingesting will lower milk supply altogether, in line with the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention, resulting in shorter breastfeeding interval.

Sadly, the parable concerning the well being advantages of Guinness for pregnant ladies has endured nicely into the twenty first century. In 2015, a woman named Sam speak to the Every day Mail about the truth that she thought it might be secure to drink Guinness throughout her being pregnant. She mentioned she was hooked on alcohol and had favored ingesting the stout as a result of she had heard it was good for her and her unborn child, who was then born with fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). 

Sources