A Filipino inventor has developed a rice beer that is fortified with multivitamins and can be considered as food supplement.

Dr. Billy Malang, inventor of the “Rice Beer Fortified with Multivitamins,” said, “hindi mo rin lang naman maawat and Pilipino sa pag-inom, ang sweldo, gagastusin niya para sa pakikisama, etc., e di at least, gawin mo nang healthy ang pag-inom (Since we cannot stop Filipinos from drinking beer, as they would even spend their entire salary for the sake of camaraderie, I made a healthy drink made of beer).”

Malang said the rice beer, which can be stored for six months, is considered a health drink and a food supplement as it is fortified with multivitamins, has low calories, and an alcohol volume of only 3.5 percent.

He added that the patent for this particular invention, which he received July of this year, was approved since he had brought back the vitamins in beer, which is not present in ordinary beer because of the fermentation process.

Malang rice’s beer invention recently qualified for the National Inventor’s Contest, which will be held this November.

“In (beer) fermentation,” he said, “kinakain ang vitamins na galing sa grain kaya ako, binalik ko yung vitamins (in the beer) kaya nagkaroon ako ng patent.”

The rice beer inventor also said that aside from being a health drink, his invention is also cheap and is oxygen-resistant.

“(This is the) best (thing) to happen since sake (Japanese alcohol beverage),” he said.

Sake is a beverage fermented from rice, which, flavor-wise, is closer to wine than beer and contains between 15 and 17 percent of alcohol.

Aside from rice beer, Malang said that he has also invented “rice milk” for the lactose intolerant.

According to Malang, he developed the “non-dairy alternative to cow’s milk since 20 percent of the Filipinos are lactose intolerant while 60 of the country’s population use rice as their staple food.

“Ang bigas, walang lactose, walang cholesterol, it is non-fat, non-hypoallergenic at saka it is a very digestible source of complex carbohydrates,” he said, adding that the rice milk is also a good source of Vitamins A and B.

Malang, however, clarified that his invention cannot be used as substitute of infant formula.

“Eto, pwede mong itago ng isang taon, it will keep fresh pero pag binuksan mo, hanggang 10 araw na lang (This milk can be stored for a year but it is only good for 10 days once the seal is opened),” he said.

Malang said that he has a total of 42 inventions, the first of which was the hypothermic syringe disposer, which was patented in 1982.

Some of his inventions, including some of which that were co-invented by his wife, Yasmin, include the patient down alarm, patient side-turning hospital bed, poor boy’s beyblade, ear and nose aspirator, hand-exercising flail massaging back scratcher, dog diaper, female genital wash, the gynecological douching apparatus, composition for Lagundi cough and cold medication in lollipop form, and improvised urine bag.