Is becks blue safe: Hi All, I have... - British Liver Trust

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Is becks blue safe

Hi All,

I have cirrhosis and have been abstinent for 18 months. The majority of my blood tests have returned to normal and even my bilirubin finally went within range at 16 in April but when tested again in May gone up to 29.

I have had a couple of becks blue beers recently which originally thought was alcohol free as stated then saw it had 0.05% alcohol in it and became paranoid that this may have contributed to the raised bilirubin and would be bad for my liver but after some researching it seems unlikely that this volume would have an affect as even some foods may contain traces of alcohol but wanted to get some more feedback?? 😊

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Miss_C78

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11 Replies

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briccolone9 years ago

Hi miss 78 theres been a couple of posts on becks blue recently. Glad to hear things are improving generally but if alcohol was the cause of your cirrhosis then I would avoid and even if it wasn't becks blue isn't worth the risk. Its not great anyway cheers

Camil89 years ago

Hi Miss 78,

Even though the alcohol level is small it is possibly the cause or certainly a contributor. However as you correctly point out many foods and drinks contain small traces of alcohol. When you've been abstinent for so long your bilirubin can bounce back up higher than it should with a cirrhotic background. Like a sugar rebound after taking some sugar to deal with a hypo. I'm sure your bilirubin has been much higher. If you have cirrhosis best not to touch alcohol ever, but understand it's difficult. If you must maybe wait until 1 year after a transplant when you have a new liver working well. But like I said best policy is none. Don't panic at those numbers but like the other respondent said Becks Blue doesn't even taste good but it is understandable that sometimes it's the act of participating with company who are enjoying a drink, but remember they can and you can't and that's sometimes the hardest part of dealing with liver problems. Not worth it

Miss_C78• in reply toCamil89 years ago

Thanks yes at its worst it was 484 so much better. Tbh I can take or leave it with the becks blue but I do miss the taste of a cold beer now and again (it was wine and vodka I had major issues with) I did think if that amount would do no harm why not. I am not suitable for a liver transplant at the mo as meld score is 10.

Thanks for the feedback 😊

Avux999 years ago

For what it's worth, I'd say 0.05% alcohol is next to diddly squat. You probably breath in more toxins on any given day such as petrol fumes etc. So I'd say Becks is ok really. I know Andy Fordham (the darts player, who has Cirrhosis) drinks it, so I'm guessing his doctors said it was ok to do so. However you need to be careful as there are other so called non/low alcoholic beers out there such as Erdinger which is actually 0.5%! A big difference!

RodeoJoe• in reply toAvux999 years ago

I agree 0.05%, is probably too low to do any damage.

Miss_C78• in reply toAvux999 years ago

Great reply thanks. I will be very causious of any of these alcohol free things as even the 0.05% seems questionable so no chance I would drink 0.5% ☺️

hope4tomorrow9 years ago

I see people saying that there is alcohol in some if our food .While this is true ..we need to remember that cooking alcohol destroys the alcoholic content whilst keeping the flavour ... But in anything we add after cooking like Christmas pudding. For example. The alcohol level remains. Lol My mum used to soak it in brandy each week before Christmas. I just stay away from all alcohol ..it's safer with stage 4. I don't miss it at all now . my cirrhosis was from Hepatitis C a year not drinking. So it is easy for me ...I realise it must be incredibly hard for.some others tho ..good to see you're improving .. War I our for medications tho ..some can cause big liver problems for us with cirrhosis...

Miss_C78• in reply tohope4tomorrow9 years ago

Well looking at some of my medications this could also contribute to my bilirubin elevating slightly.

I miss drinking occasionally but am quite at ease of never drinking again just quite liked the taste ☺️

Tess74• in reply toMiss_C789 years ago

try Bavaria 0.0%...I find it quite nice

Dave5• in reply tohope4tomorrow7 years ago

This is a very late reply but a correction that desperately needed making.

Cooking does not in most cases remove the alcohol. Most cooking techniques will leave the majority of it.

Dorset1239 years ago

Alcohol free labelled beer can have a maximum of 0.05% alcohol. (I even rang Becks European office & they couldn't tell me exactly how much alcohol if any was in Becks Blue) Anything labelled zero alcohol should be exactly that, including Bavaria which is not bad if really cold!!