The truth about green beer and its potential nasty side effect
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FOX NEWS - Green beer is a fixture at St. Patrick’s Day parties, right alongside “Kiss Me, I’m Irish” t-shirts and guys in cartoonishly large leprechaun hats.
But unlike t-shirts and oversized headgear, there’s a small chance that emerald-hued ales could devastate a delicate stomach.
Dr. Partha Nandi, a board-certified gastroenterologist and a fellow of the American College of Physicians, tells Fox News that consuming green dye, while generally harmless, has the potential to send St. Paddy’s Day revelers straight to the bathroom if ingested in larger quantities.
“If you're just drinking green beer and snacks one day of the year, a few drops of the dye should not make any difference to your health,” Nandi tells Fox News. “[But] you may experience some GI distress with diarrhea.”
The problem, as Nandi points out, is that artificial dyes are not meant to be consumed in anything other than “moderate” amounts.