Agony in disguise

ALL beer guzzlers bewarel This popular
drink may after all be a repository of
carcinogenic chemicals like nitroso-
dimethylamine, according to scientists
of the Hyderabad-based National
Institute of Nutrition (NIN).

After obtaining samples of Indian
beer from commercial outlets in Andhra
Pradesh, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya
Pradesh, Orissa and Punjab and
analysing them, the researchers found
that the levels of the cancer-causing
chemical present in them ranged from
zero to 24.7 parts per billion. A senior
NIN scientist, Kamala Krishnaswamy
said, "We suspect that nitroso-dimethylamine is formed during the high temperatures used in malt processing".

While beer manufactured abroad
also contains the chemical, its level is
much less (it is 0.6 parts per billion in
Germany and 4.2 in Japan). The
researchers at NIN believe that a modification in the manufacturing process
may do the trick of reducing the
nitroso-dimethylamine content.