Just watched the Dual Survival 3, "Meltdown" episode. In the beginning Cody and Joe have found a backpack in the African desert, where they are stranded this time, with some semi-random stuff, including a couple of full beer cans. They both argued that beer (24 oz of precious water! and also a great source of calories!) must be discarded immediately, as alcohol is diuretic and would only help with dehydration. Isn't that just a plain stupid move in the dry desert?

In fact, it seems to me, that this show is too often becoming quite misleading. In the same episode, Joe is bravely walking over the chest deep creek, which is possibly infested with alligators, instead of simply swimming on the surface, which is almost 100% safe in such rivers, as crocs are watching for animal legs.

Diuretic which I think we can agree is a bad thing in the desert where (actual) water may be hard to find.

So I agree with Cody & Joe, dump the beer. The calories are minimal and will not offset the loss of water.

There is "actual" water in the beer. Even if the alcohol in it (which is a very little amount in the beer) will cause more frequent urination, in a desert survival situation that water (urine) must be collected and re-used anyway.

For the calories, you are wrong, each beer can is more than 150 calories, that's about 2 large eggs each!

Also, I can easily google articles calling strong diuretic properties of beer just urban myth: http://www.socialanxietysupport.com/forum/f24/coffee-and-beer-cause-dehydration-a-myth-22964/
and
http://www.dshack.net/2011/11/no-coffee-doesnt-dehydrate-you-and-neither-does-beer.html

The last one shows a simple math of intake and diuretic release, so even if they don't collect urine (which is nonsense in the given situation) they could still benefit from the beer water intake.

Question, If you heated the beer would the alcohol evaporate first leaving most of the water and calories?

Good one.
That's how the nonalcoholic beer was made in the past: http://gizmodo.com/the-science-of-non-alcoholic-beer-509674407
In short, beer boils at lower temp. than water, so all what Cody and Joe had to do is to bring it to the boiling point for a second or two.

By the way, calories in various beer: http://www.fitsugar.com/Calories-Popular-Beers-1504697

Sierra Nevada Bigfoot 330 cal!

First, not all beer is the same; some have a lot more calories (carbohydrates) than others. "Liquid Bread" was the term I learned when I was stationed in Germany. It referred to German brews, not US "lawn mowing" beer. So, In part, depends what type of beer it is.

Second, even with low carb beer, I don't think the intake of, say 12 US oz of fluid + at least some carbs, will cause you to lose more than 12 oz of liquid, so it is a net gain in liquid.

Heck yes, 1 beer each will help: now, a six pack all at once is a different question.

I'd boil it! That won't get all the alcohol out; alcohol is extremely hydrophilic, you need a centrifuge or molecular distillation to get all of it out. But boiling briefly will get most of it out. Lots of calories and a lot of water, don't waste it!

I think Alex and Phaedrus are right, even if you didn't try to boil off some of the alcohol the beer would provide a net gain in water. Plus those complex carbs are golden in a survival situation. Regarding the carbs, they are even more important in the desert because when you digest carbs, there is a net release of free water that becomes available to the body. Protein digestion uses water in order to flush the tissues of the resulting ammonia while carb digestion provides more water to the body. Here is an excerpt on the topic from Golden & Tipton's excellent book which unfortunately costs a lot more in print than it used to.

Regarding caffeine & diuresis, IIRC much of the diuretic effect happens to people who don't regularly consume caffeine. Those who have caffeine regularly have less response to the mild diuretic effect.

You should regard the info in show as good survival info if you are determined to die early.
For the beer it really depends on the actual beer. There is thin watery brew with severely reduced alcohol content, which may be OK to drink (you might not wish to actually do it as it tastes awful). And there is German Doppelbock. That has enough carbohydrates to glue a seat to your backside (if it does not, it´s too thin and the brewer will be shamed). It has enough alcohol to make you stay put. The stuff in between it outright dangerous. It make ideas look brighter than they are. They impair your judgement but leave you capable of acting stupid.
It would be really stupid to haul the beer and then not drink it. So it´s the right decision to act while they still can think clearly.

In a survival situation I can't see discarding the beers. As others have said, I'd take the benefit of the calories and water content over any, likely negligible, negative affects the low amount of alcohol might provide.

Drink both Beers, with Pure Water you Absorb 70%, with a Diuretic (Coffee, Beer etc.) its 50%

Water Balance Article Caffeinated Beverages like Alcohol are Diuretics but they do not cause Dehydration, they just don't allow us to absorb as much Water as Pure Water. Beer also has at least 10% Carbos, so you will loose a little more to digestion, but get back some calories in exchange.

So Drink BOTH BEERS!

Carbs like alcohol break down into energy and water, For example, eating most fruits give you a net gain in water after digestion. Fats are about a tie, proteins take water to digest.

There also can be a lot said for the slight mental lift a single beer might give you.
On the other hand alcohol's vasodilating properties may not be a good idea if suffering from heat or cold maladies. Cold fingers good, hypothermia bad.

Faced with the possibility of significant physical stress, I don't think I would want alcohol in my system - boiling seems like a good idea if water is scarce.

Just for the record, I haven't always held this opinion.....

I was thinking that too ... settling down at the end of the day with a fire going and having a beer would make an otherwise stressful situation seem much more bearable.

Unless of course you have just been released from jail, under the condition that you don't drink. In that case your rescuers might send you right back to jail!

Troopers rescue snowmachiner near Fairbanks, then bust him

Reminds me of my favorite Less Stroud quote:
"Just like a weekend at the cottage, but with no food, no friends... and no beer."

So, does anybody here think that if you were locked in a room for a week with just 5 cases of beer that you would die of dehydration because of beer's diuretic properties? In other words, does anybody think they would pea out more water than their body absorbs?

The answer is "no" for me. I'm thinking you'd find me well hydrated at the end of the week. I probably would have gotten in a couple of workouts too. A diuretic may cause you to urinate a bit more, but you also absorb a lot of the water in the beer too. Hard alcohol is something else.

Sounds like a viable field experiment. Surely someone will volunteer, strictly in the interest of Science, to acquire data on this issue.......

"it seems to me, that this show is too often becoming quite misleading"

like maybe because the producer tossed an old backpack and two beers onto the dirt - before they started filming??

Pete2

If it was 5 cases of PBR they'd find my skeleton in the corner opposite the dusty unopened cans of beer! Death by thirst is preferable to PBR...

Even a jab in the butt with a pointed stick is better than PBR. YAK!!!!

Is this PBR (Pabst Blue Ribbon??) you speak of, worse than Budweiser Lager? Lager beer isn't made from rice, best to stick the original Budweiser Budvar from the Czech Republic.

If you mop the floor of the Budweiser factory at the end of the shift and dump the mop water into a keg you have Pabst Blue Ribbon!

Somehow I get the impression you don't think very highly of PBR....

I wouldn't clean a paintbrush in PBR!

The worst beer I ever had was excellent.
Like women, all beer is lovely, some more lovely than others.

Any skiing is good skiing.

Only if it's done behind a boat!!
-Blast, who doesn't do cold anymore