Determination of estrogenic activity in beer by biological and chemical means.

It has been suspected that beer drinking may change the hormonal status of men caused by phytoestrogens. Five different Austrian lager beers have been investigated for estrogenic activity by a yeast two-plasmid system harboring the human estrogen receptor alpha, after concentration by solid phase extraction. The beer concentrate was further fractionated by reversed phase HPLC, and then the fractions were characterized by the biological assay and GC-MS. The most potent fraction did not contain a known phytoestrogen. The total activity corresponded to an average of 43 ng of 17beta-estradiol/L of beer. It was concluded that the human health hazard of beer drinking originating from compounds activity on the estrogen receptor alpha is negligible.