Kenneth Miller
3:48 PM
11/07/08
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/fea/taste/stories/110708dntxswbeerscience.127e4b3.html

Students at Rice University have worked to create a prototype BioBeer that will help fight diabetes, cancer, and heart disease. The project that originally started as a joke has proved to be a modern scientific breakthrough. The beer is brewed using genetically modified yeast that produce resveratrol, which is a compound found in red wine and other foods that has proven to have cancer fighting benefits. The teams goals are simply to help spread the health say the students. The beer in its current form isn't drinkable but the students hope to have it ready by the end of the semester. The idea although wonky will prove to be a beneficial health product for a different crow than the usual "healthy consumer". The materials involved are chemical solutions, pieces of DNA, common lab bacteria, water, fermentable sugar, hops, and yeast. The yeast is being currently modified to metabolize sugar and produce intermediate chemicals, while a second set of genes will convert the chemical to resveratrol. Another benefit of the beer is that it requires no extra price to produce.

This whole article just speaks for its self; Practical science applied to a practical substance. Its quite a hilarious idea, but with further inspection it really is a brilliant health product. It's the perfect way to appeal the abnormal audience that may not be as concerned with the nutritional facts as others and at no extra cost to the consumer. I think this sort of approach to food should be taken more often. Alter food and drinks that aren't particularily viewed as "healthy" and modify them to provide some health benefit without altering taste. Just think about it: Cholesterol Lowering Honey Buns, Cancer Prevention Cheetos. I mean the idea is a gold mine with how cheap the production would be. Lets hope to see more applicable science like this in the food industry in years to come