Unlike men, it is very rare to find Nigerian women taking beer in public. Asides the health implications, many people generally think beer shouldn’t be taken by women.
However, Dolapo Coker, a retired Federal Director from the Ministry of Health, says there is nothing wrong with women taking beer but it must be in moderation.
In an interview with Josephine Agbonkhese of Vanguard, she speaks on the misconception of women drinking beer.
She said,
There is nothing indecent about it. It’s a drink! But it becomes indecent when you drink three, four, five bottles and become a nuisance, whether as a man or a woman. I had an aunty-in-law who died about three years ago at age 100.
Even at her 100th year birthday party, she was drinking her beer and she was a staunch Christian. She never for one day staggered, how much more become a nuisance because she knew her limits and understood that the drink was good for her. I, for example, eat chocolate, ice cream and desserts.
In fact, I must have a slice of cake every day and I even bake and keep in the fridge to enable me eat cake every day. But yet, I am well. Moderation is the word.
For example, I gave a talk at an international symposium about two years ago which was organized by the Nigerian Breweries. My speech was on beer and the misconception surrounding it which says beer gives big belle.
That’s not true because if there is no moderation in anything, even the so-called juice, malt and minerals you drink, there will be problem. If you take four bottles of let us say Fanta, you are over-doing it and it’s going to build fat in your body, same way your four bottles of beer, malt, etc. will bring you fat.
Everything must have moderation. Besides, beer is made from natural things such as cereal, barley and hops, and these are organic things. So, they are just like food. It is when you drink too much of them that you invite trouble.
-Vanguard