Brewer's Yeast - It's REALLY good for you!!!

One morning, while in the kitchen getting ready for school, I witnessed my father eating a large piece of Blueberry Pie.  I said, “Mummy, can I have pie too?”  She said YES – on one condition.  You need to have some brewers yeast too.  Being 7, I thought – no problem.  Let me just say, I have an acquired taste for it having started drinking it so long ago.  Mothers are so sneaky aren’t they?!  I had pie for breakfast from then on whenever I wanted, and always drank my yeast.  Here’s the question (dating myself) – how did she ‘know’ way back then…it had to be about 1969?

Over the years, I've read the label on cans of yeast you buy in health food stores, and remembered most of what you need to know.

Here's what I remember, and know:
- B Complex (vitamins), all of them, and in ratios balanced by mother nature, as they were intended and needed
- All the 'essential' Amino Acids (see below for more)
- A bunch of minerals like Selenium, Chromium, Magnesium, Phosphorous, Copper, Zinc...
- Protein (I recall something like 25% of your daily requirement)
- I recall a tingling sensation on the back of the neck back in college when I took it then, and researched it.  Histamines are released from the Riboflavin, and you feel it on your neck as a sudden hot flush.  After taking yeast regularly for a few weeks, this slowly passes. Today, it doesn't happen to me at all, but may happen to you.

I purchase my Brewer's Yeast in bulk at the local Health Food store, as yeast flakes - dissolves better than powder.  I store it in a metal can, and put two heaping tablespoons full in water-diluted juice.  I also include a tablespoon of powdered greens (another blog)...and drink it right down. 1-2-3...DONE!  C'mon, after reading this, so far, don't you want to run out and get some?  Just so you know - I can't get my kids to drink it.  Then again, there's no blueberry pie sitting around to bribe them with!

Health Benefits from Google Search Results
1. Being an excellent source of chromium, an essential trace mineral, brewer’s yeast serves as an antioxidant, ridding the body of harmful toxins and free radicals. This promotes healthy cell renewal and regeneration.

2. Brewer’s yeast also has an organic compound called glucose tolerance factor or GTF, which helps the body in maintaining normal blood sugar levels. It aids the body to make use of insulin more efficiently. This is why many individuals who have diabetes use health supplements made from brewer’s yeast.

3. It also strengthens the body’s immunity against illnesses and diseases. This is primarily because brewer’s yeast is a good source of selenium, another essential trace mineral which is known to be effective in improving the functioning of the immune system and in the stimulation of antibodies.

4. The selenium in brewer’s yeast can also help in making the thyroid function more efficiently, preventing hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism and goiter.

5. Brewer’s yeast has also been recommended as a natural supplement for boosting fertility, especially in men.

6. The B complex vitamins in brewer’s yeast is effective in enhancing an individual’s physical appearance as they can improve the condition of the skin, hair and eyes. These vitamins also help in breaking down fats, carbohydrates and proteins. They are also essential in maintaining the healthy functioning of the digestive and the nervous systems.

7. The high amount of protein found in brewer’s yeast contains all the essential amino acids needed to build and repair tissues, bones, muscles and cartilage. The protein in brewer’s yeast can also help in enzyme and hormone production.

8. Studies have shown that brewer’s yeast can lower the levels of bad cholesterol or LDL while raising the levels of good cholesterol or HDL in the body. This can help in reducing the risk of several diseases such as hypertension, strokes and heart attacks.


I like this stuff:
Amino acids are critical to life, and have many functions in metabolism. One particularly important function is to serve as the building blocks of proteins, which are linear chains of amino acids. Amino acids can be linked together in varying sequences to form a vast variety of proteins. Twenty-two amino acids are naturally incorporated into polypeptides and are called proteinogenic or standard amino acids. Of these, 20 are encoded by the universal genetic code. Eight standard amino acids are called "essential" for humans because they cannot be created from other compounds by the human body, and so must be taken in as food.