"There is everything healthy about beer," said Alexis Nasard, chief commercial officer for the Dutch brewing giant.

Nasard argued that beer has fewer calories than milk and contains no additives.

"Beer has much less calories than many things you can think about… Beer has fewer calories than a glass of milk," he said.

"The other thing is beer is one of the few drinks that is purely natural; it is water, hops, barley and yeast, which is quite healthy."

Nasard's comments were reminiscent of Guinness's famed advertising slogan, "Guinness is good for you," dating from the 1920s. Pregnant women and nursing mothers were encouraged to drink Guinness for its reputedly high iron content.

According to the U.K.'s Beer Education Trust, a half-pint (284 milliliters) of 3.8 percent bitter (pale ale) contains 85 calories, while the same-sized glass of orange juice has 128 calories.

Meanwhile, a medium-sized glass (175 milliliters) of white wine contains 131 calories and red wine has 119 calories.

"Beer is around 95 percent water, contains very few free sugars to convert into fat, which gives it a low glycaemic load, and has a relatively low level of alcohol (ethanol) per volume. This all means that it is less fattening than spirits or wine," said Jack Edmonds, a Harley Street General Practitioner in London, in a report by the Beer Education Trust.

"It is not beer that makes you fat but the lifestyle and eating habits which may go along with beer drinking."