Drug & supplement interaction

Beer + Finasteride

Finasteride brand names: Propecia, Proscar.

No Known Interaction
Medically reviewed by · Updated July 2026 · Pair last verified Sep 13, 2026
The bottom line No known interaction

We found no known interaction between Beer and Finasteride in our sources. Absence of a documented interaction is not the same as proven safety, and does not guarantee one does not exist. Do not start, stop, or change a medication or supplement based on this page; confirm with your pharmacist or doctor first. Additionally, although there is no interaction, the two are separately associated with some of the same side effects, which would make a new symptom harder to attribute to one or the other.

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Interaction report

Beer and Finasteride

We checked these two against our interaction database. Here is what we found.

No Known Interaction Found

We did not find a documented interaction between Finasteride and Beer in our sources. This does not guarantee that the combination is completely free of risk — there is often limited research on supplements and herbal products, especially around drug interactions.

If you decide to take both, the practical routine is simple: add one new thing at a time and note the date you started it. If the combination is going to disagree with you, it usually shows in the first days to a couple of weeks — and a start date turns “I’ve been feeling off” into something a pharmacist can actually work with. Do not stop a prescribed medicine on your own.

Always talk with your pharmacist or doctor before making changes to your medications or supplements, particularly if you take several medications or have an ongoing health condition.

Beer safety at a glance

Beer overall Use caution Beer contains alcohol, which is harmful in excess and carries risks even in moderate amounts.
Pregnancy Likely Unsafe When alcoholic beer is used orally. Alcohol is a teratogen. Use during pregnancy, especially during the first two months after conception, is associated with si... Read the full pregnancy detail
Breastfeeding Likely Unsafe When alcoholic beer is used orally. Alcohol is secreted in breast milk. Chronic use can cause abnormal psychomotor development and disrupt the infant's sleep-wa... Read the full breastfeeding detail

Pregnancy & breastfeeding ratings are from Natural Medicines (Therapeutic Research Center) — the full detail is in the Special populations card below. Safety guidance is general; always confirm with your pharmacist or doctor for your situation.

Still wondering about combining Finasteride and Beer? Ask Dr. Brian Staiger, PharmD, BCPS directly ›
How we checked

Why No Interaction Is Listed for Finasteride

Interactions in our licensed database are recorded against drug classes, not just single drug names. Finasteride is filed under 3 classifications — including cytochrome p450 3a4 (cyp3a4) substrates, oral drugs. Beer has documented interactions with 35 drug classes — the most serious being cisapride (propulsid) (major), cns depressants (major) and disulfiram (antabuse) (major) — and none of Finasteride’s classifications are among them.

Classification data comes from our licensed Natural Medicines dataset. A medication can belong to classes beyond those recorded there, so this describes how the check was run — it is not a safety guarantee.

Keep it in perspective

Beer Does Interact With Other Medications

Beer has 654 major, 272 moderate known drug interactions in our database — Finasteride isn’t one of them. If you take anything else, check it against the full list below.

Major 654 Moderate 272 No known interaction 1,904 (incl. Finasteride)
Taking anything else?

Check Another of Your Medications Against Beer

Covers the 2,830 medications we’ve checked against Beer. Pick one to open its full report.

What to actually watch for

No Interaction Found — But Data Suggests Beer and Finasteride May Share Several of the Same Side Effects

This is not an interaction. Neither one changes how your body handles the other, and nothing here says they react together. What our sources do show is that each has separately been linked to the effects below — so taking both can make those effects more likely to turn up, and harder to pin on one or the other if they do. 2 of them are worth acting on rather than waiting out — marked below.

  • A severe allergic reaction / An allergic reaction Worth acting on Additional detail

    Beer

    “Beer made with barley can cause anaphylaxis in sensitive individuals. A case report describes a 32-year-old male who developed anaphylaxis within minutes of ingesting beer, and who had positive skin tests to at least nine beer brands. Another case report describes a 33-year-old female who developed allergic reactions ranging from mild symptoms to anaphylaxis after consumption of beer or wine.”

    Beer · Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, reported in allergic rhinitis (hay fever).

    5 sources cited
    1. 317. Fernandez-Anaya S, Crespo JF, Rodriguez JR, et al. Beer anaphylaxis. J Allergy Clin Immunol 1999;103:959-60.
    2. 99640. Pita JS, Sousa N, Bartolome B, Loureiro C, Bom AT. Beer: an uncommon cause of anaphylaxis. BMJ Case Rep 2019 Jan 3;12(1). pii: e227723. doi: 10.1136/bcr-2018-227723. PubMed
    3. 107819. German-Sanchez A, Alonso-Llamazares A, Garcia-Gonzalez F, Matala-Ahmed B, Bartolome-Zavala B, Antepara-Ercoreca I. Allergy to beer and wine caused by Saccharomyces cerevisiae in a patient sensitized to fungi. J Investig Allergol Clin Immunol 2021. PubMed
    4. 6174. Vally H, de Klerk N, Thompson PJ. Alcoholic drinks: important triggers for asthma. J Allergy Clin Immunol 2000;105:462-7. PubMed
    5. 34042. Kelso, J. M., Keating, M. U., Squillace, D. L., O'Connell, E. J., Yunginger, J. W., and Sachs, M. I. Anaphylactoid reaction to ethanol. Ann Allergy 1990;64(5):452-454.

    Finasteride

    Listed in the ADVERSE REACTIONS section of the FDA label for Finasteride. Read the label on DailyMed ›

  • Drowsiness Additional detail

    Beer

    “Orally, alcoholic beer can cause a variety of side effects which depend on the amount of alcohol ingested and can vary among individuals. Some common side effects include aggression, confusion, and emotional lability. Chronic heavy alcohol ingestion (three or more drinks daily) can lead to dementia, physical amnesia, and somnolence.”

    Beer · Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, reported in dementia.

    4 sources cited
    1. 6843. Thun MJ, Peto R, Lopez AD, et al. Alcohol consumption and mortality among middle-aged and elderly US adults. N Engl J Med 1997;337:1705-14.
    2. 9004. Bosetti C, La Vecchia C, Negri E, Franceschi S. Wine and other types of alcoholic beverages and the risk of esophageal cancer. Eur J Clin Nutr 2000;54:918-20. PubMed
    3. 34040. Bushman, B. J. and Cooper, H. M. Effects of alcohol on human aggression: an integrative research review. Psychol.Bull 1990;107(3):341-354.
    4. 8972. Bosetti C, La Vecchia C, Negri E, Franceschi S. Wine and other types of alcoholic beverages and the risk of esophageal cancer. Eur J Clin Nutr 2000;54:918-20. PubMed

    Finasteride

    Listed in the ADVERSE REACTIONS section of the FDA label for Finasteride. Read the label on DailyMed ›

  • Swelling / A skin rash Additional detail

    Beer

    Recorded for Beer in the same Natural Medicines adverse-effect record shown under A severe allergic reaction / An allergic reaction above.

    Finasteride

    Listed in the ADVERSE REACTIONS section of the FDA label for Finasteride. Read the label on DailyMed ›

  • Tiredness Additional detail

    Beer

    “Multiple cases of hyponatremia secondary to beer potomania have been reported. In one case report, a middle-aged male with a history of diabetes and chronic heavy alcoholic beer ingestion (about 12 beers daily) presented with severe hyponatremia and diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA).”

    Beer · Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, reported in alcohol use disorder.

    3 sources cited
    1. 107815. Stasishin D, Schaffer P, Khan Z, Murphy C. Severe metabolic derangement: a case of concomitant diabetic ketoacidosis and beer potomania. BMJ Case Rep 2021;14(8):e243486. PubMed
    2. 112261. Senanayake J, Haji Rahman R, Boucher B, et al. Multi-Etiological Hyponatremia in Association With Suspected Beer Potomania. Cureus 2023;15(3):e36407. PubMed
    3. 112262. Yu ZL, Fisher L. Beer Potomania: Why Initial Fluid Resuscitation May Be Harmful. Case Rep Nephrol 2022;2022:8778304. PubMed

    Finasteride

    Listed in the ADVERSE REACTIONS section of the FDA label for Finasteride. Read the label on DailyMed ›

Reported for Beer but not commonly for Finasteride: an irregular heartbeat, confusion, a heart attack and dependence or withdrawal symptoms.

Effects for Finasteride come from the ADVERSE REACTIONS section of its FDA label; effects for Beer come from the Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, quoted above. Wording is matched across sources by our own clinical vocabulary, so treat this as a prompt to pay attention, not a diagnosis.

Special populations

Beer in Pregnancy & Breastfeeding

Pregnancy Likely Unsafe

When alcoholic beer is used orally. Alcohol is a teratogen. Use during pregnancy, especially during the first two months after conception, is associated with significant risk of spontaneous abortion, fetal alcohol syndrome, and developmental and behavioral dysfunction in infants and children; avoid using. There is insufficient reliable information available about the safety of non-alcoholic beer when used during pregnancy.

Lactation Likely Unsafe

When alcoholic beer is used orally. Alcohol is secreted in breast milk. Chronic use can cause abnormal psychomotor development and disrupt the infant's sleep-wake pattern. Alcohol also seems to reduce milk production; avoid using. There is insufficient reliable information available about the safety of non-alcoholic beer when used during lactation.

DISCLAIMER: This tool is intended for informational purposes only, and should not be interpreted as specific medical advice. Patients should consult with a qualified healthcare provider before making decisions about therapies and/or health conditions.© 2026 Therapeutic Research Center

Overlapping uses

What Finasteride Is Prescribed For, and What Beer Has Been Studied For

These two come up together because they touch the same health topic — not because they do the same job. Finasteride is a prescription medicine with approved uses on its FDA label. Beer is a supplement: what follows is what researchers have looked at it for, and how strong that evidence is.

Finasteride is prescribed for: Finasteride tablets (including the brand Proscar) are used in men with an enlarged prostate (benign prostatic hyperplasia, or BPH) to improve urinary symptoms, lower the risk of acute urinary retention (a sudden inability to urinate), and reduce the need for prostate surgery. Finasteride tablets may also be used alongside the alpha-blocker doxazosin to slow the progression of BPH symptoms. Propecia (and finasteride 1 mg coated tablets) is indicated for the treatment of male pattern hair loss (androgenetic alopecia) in men only. Propecia is not approved for use in women, and its effectiveness for hair loss at the temples has not been established.

Read the rest of what Finasteride is prescribed for

Finasteride is not approved for the prevention of prostate cancer.

Beer has been studied for:

  • Cancer studied, not established Beer has been studied for this. Natural Medicines rates the evidence: Insufficient Reliable Evidence To Rate Read what the research shows

    Beer for cancer

    It is unclear if alcoholic beer consumption is beneficial for preventing cancer or cancer-related mortality. The available evidence suggests variable effects depending on cancer type.

Effectiveness ratings and the research summaries above are the verbatim record from the Natural Medicines database, which grades evidence from “Effective” down to “Insufficient Reliable Evidence To Rate”. A rating below the top of that scale means researchers have looked at it — not that it works, and never that it can stand in for a prescribed medicine. Do not stop or replace Finasteride on your own; if you are taking Beer for the same health topic, tell your prescriber, especially if the medicine is being adjusted to a target.

From our Q&A

Questions About Beer or Finasteride

These are real questions from readers, answered by the pharmacists at HelloPharmacist — written by a person, not generated from a database. Each one covers Beer or Finasteride, not necessarily both, but if one is close to what you were about to ask it will usually go further than a database entry can:

Not quite your question? Ask our pharmacists directly — it is free, there is no account required, and answers usually come back within 24 hours.

Everything else you take

See Every Supplement That Interacts With Finasteride

This page covers Beer only. If you take other supplements — a multivitamin, a sleep aid, something for joints — the Finasteride page lists 138 supplements it has a documented interaction with, worst first, each one explained.

The most serious there right now: Activated Charcoal (major), Grapefruit (major), St. John's Wort (major), Acacia Rigidula (moderate) and Adrafinil (moderate).

By severity: 3 major · 94 moderate · 41 minor.

From our pharmacist’s overview on the Finasteride page

“The supplement list for finasteride (Propecia, Proscar) is one I would read carefully rather than skim, because three of its 138 entries are rated major. Almost everything here works through the same liver enzyme, CYP3A4, that clears finasteride.”

Reviewed by 2 · Jul 18, 2026

Open the Finasteride interaction page

How much people look this up

Where Beer and Finasteride Sit Against Everything Else

Out of every supplement and medication people look up on HelloPharmacist, here is where these two land this week — and which way each has been moving.

Supplement Beer
Top 25%

#333 of 1,452 supplements looked up here in the last 7 days

29 days ago today
Medication Finasteride
Top 5%

#63 of 2,830 medications looked up here in the last 7 days

29 days ago today

Position among everything looked up on this site, not a measure of how commonly either one is used or how important it is. A supplement can climb this list because of a news story. It counts every request to the page, automated ones included, and nothing here identifies anyone.

Where does our data come from?
  • Source: the Natural Medicines (TRC Healthcare) clinical database — the evidence-graded professional reference for herb & supplement interactions.
  • Citation library: 103,510 references behind our interaction content, 65,311 of them resolved to verified PubMed/DOI sources. See every Beer reference on this page ↓
  • Freshness: we automatically re-check this combination every week — this pair was last verified September 13, 2026. The Beer and Finasteride records this page draws on were last updated July 11, 2026.
  • What “no known interaction” means: no documented interaction in the sources above — not a guarantee of safety. Supplements are studied far less than prescription drugs, so we say exactly what the evidence supports, and nothing more.
Data structure & sourcing designed and verified by .
Supplement

About Beer

What is Beer?

Beer
  • Social and recreational drinking
  • Relaxation
  • Heart health (popular belief)
  • Bone health (popular belief)
  • Source of antioxidants and B vitamins

Beer is an alcoholic beverage that contains some minerals, B vitamins, and plant compounds from hops and grain, but it is not a health supplement. Any possible benefits come only from light-to-moderate intake, and they are easily outweighed by the well-known harms of alcohol. The safest amount of alcohol for health is none, and beer should be avoided in pregnancy and breastfeeding.

Fermented beverage made from malted grain (usually barley), hops, yeast, and water · Lager, ale, stout, porter, non-alcoholic beer, low-alcohol beer

An interaction check asks whether these two react with each other — it does not ask whether Beer is a good idea for someone in your situation. Here is what our Beer record says about it on its own.

Beer: dosing

There is no medical "dose" of beer, because it is not a treatment. If a person chooses to drink, U.S. dietary guidelines describe moderate drinking as up to one drink per day for women and up to two drinks per day for men. One standard drink is roughly a 12-ounce regular beer (about 5% alcohol).These limits are upper boundaries, not goals or recommendations to start drinking. Health authorities increasingly note that less alcohol is better, and that not drinking at all is the safest choice.

From our Beer monograph — the full record covers uses, side effects and every documented interaction.

Read the full Beer monograph & all interactions
Medication

About Finasteride

What Is Finasteride Used For?

Brand names: Propecia, Proscar

Finasteride tablets (including the brand Proscar) are used in men with an enlarged prostate (benign prostatic hyperplasia, or BPH) to improve urinary symptoms, lower the risk of acute urinary retention (a sudden inability to urinate), and reduce the need for prostate surgery. Finasteride tablets may also be used alongside the alpha-blocker doxazosin to slow the progression of BPH symptoms.

Propecia (and finasteride 1 mg coated tablets) is indicated for the treatment of male pattern hair loss (androgenetic alopecia) in men only. Propecia is not approved for use in women, and its effectiveness for hair loss at the temples has not been established. Finasteride is not approved for the prevention of prostate cancer.

See full Finasteride drug information
Keep checking

Other Drugs & Beer

Browse every other medication we’ve checked against Beer — both the ones with a known interaction and the ones without. Select any drug for the full detail.

654Major
272Moderate
0Minor
1,903No known interaction
654 Major 272 Moderate 1,903 No interaction
Major

654 interactions

Showing 60 of 654 major interactions — see all 654 on the Beer page.

Moderate

272 interactions

Showing 60 of 272 moderate interactions — see all 272 on the Beer page.

No interaction 1,903 drugs checked — show the list

We also checked Beer against these medications and found no known interaction in our sources. Open any page to confirm.

Showing the 60 most looked-up of 1,903 medications checked with no known interaction — see the full Beer list.

See the full Beer interactions page
See every supplement checked against Finasteride, ranked by severity
Evidence & sources

Beer References

The 75 references that drive our Beer monograph and interaction data, from the evidence-graded Natural Medicines (TRC Healthcare) database. Citations with a link open the study on PubMed or the publisher’s site.

  1. Fernandez-Anaya S, Crespo JF, Rodriguez JR, et al. Beer anaphylaxis. J Allergy Clin Immunol 1999;103:959-60.
  2. Burnham TH, ed. Drug Facts and Comparisons, Updated Monthly. Facts and Comparisons, St. Louis, MO.
  3. Hart CL, Smith GD, Hole DJ, Hawthorne VM. Alcohol consumption and mortality from all causes, coronary heart disease, and stroke: results from a prospective cohort study of Scottish men with 21 years of follow up. BMJ 1999;318:1725-9. PubMed
  4. Pearson TA. Alcohol and heart disease. Circulation 1996;94:3023-5. PubMed
  5. Fraser AG. Pharmacokinetic interactions between alcohol and other drugs. Clin Pharmacokinet 1997;33:79-90. PubMed
  6. Stampfer MJ, Colditz GA, Willett WC, et al. A prospective study of moderate alcohol consumption and the risk of coronary disease and stroke in women. N Engl J Med 1988;319:267-73. PubMed
  7. Vally H, de Klerk N, Thompson PJ. Alcoholic drinks: important triggers for asthma. J Allergy Clin Immunol 2000;105:462-7. PubMed
  8. Thun MJ, Peto R, Lopez AD, et al. Alcohol consumption and mortality among middle-aged and elderly US adults. N Engl J Med 1997;337:1705-14.
  9. Goldberg I, Mosca L, Piano MR, Fisher EA. AHA Science Advisory: Wine and your heart: a science advisory for healthcare professionals from the Nutrition Committee, Council on Epidemiology and Prevention, and Council on Cardiovascular Nursing of the America
  10. Michaud DS, Giovannucci E, Willett WC, et al. Coffee and alcohol consumption and risk of pancreatic cancer in two prospective United States cohorts. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2001;10:429-37.
  11. Dufour MC. If you drink alcoholic beverages do so in moderation: what does this mean? J Nutr 2001;131:552S-61S. PubMed
  12. Thadhani R, Camargo CA, Stampfer MJ, et al. Prospective study of moderate alcohol consumption and risk of hypertension in young women. Arch Intern Med 2002;162:569-74. PubMed
  13. Mukamal KJ, Longstreth WT, Mittleman MA. Alcohol consumption and subclinical findings on magnetic resonance imaging of the brain in older adults: the cardiovascular health study. Stroke 2001;32:1939-46. PubMed
  14. Bosetti C, La Vecchia C, Negri E, Franceschi S. Wine and other types of alcoholic beverages and the risk of esophageal cancer. Eur J Clin Nutr 2000;54:918-20. PubMed
  15. Singletary KW, Gapstur SM. Alcohol and breast cancer: review of epidemiologic and experimental evidence and potential mechanisms. JAMA 2001;286:2143-51. PubMed

Medication overviews come from MedlinePlus (NIH); supplement label data from the NIH Dietary Supplement Label Database. Content is written and reviewed by licensed HelloPharmacist pharmacists — see our data sources and editorial standards.

Pharmacist Counseling Corner

Taking Beer and Finasteride Together: Common Questions

Is it safe to take Beer with Finasteride?
We do not list a known interaction between Beer and Finasteride. That does not guarantee the combination is risk-free, so confirm with your pharmacist or doctor — especially if you take other medications or have a health condition.
Do Beer and Finasteride have any of the same side effects?
Yes — our sources link each of them separately to 6 of the same effects. That is not an interaction: neither changes how your body handles the other. It does mean that if one of those effects turns up, it can be harder to tell which one is behind it. They are listed on this page with the source behind each.
Are Beer and Finasteride used for the same thing?
They overlap in purpose, which usually means the real question is whether you need both rather than whether they are safe together. This page lists the shared uses and how strong the evidence is for Beer in each. That is a conversation for your prescriber, especially if Finasteride is being adjusted to a target.
How was the Beer and Finasteride combination checked?
Interactions in our licensed database are recorded against drug classes. Finasteride is filed under 3 classifications, and Beer has documented interactions with 35 drug classes — none of Finasteride's classifications are among them. A medication can belong to classes beyond those recorded in our dataset, so this describes how the check was run rather than guaranteeing safety.
Does Beer interact with any other medications?
Yes. Beer has 926 documented drug interactions in our database — Finasteride is simply not one of them. If you take anything else, it is worth checking each one; they are all listed on this page.
Does Finasteride interact with any supplements?
Yes. Finasteride has documented interactions with 138 supplements in our database — Beer is not one of them. The Finasteride interaction page linked on this page lists every one, ranked by severity.

Written and reviewed by the HelloPharmacist editorial staff. Our editorial policy

Where next

Keep Exploring

Beer monograph Uses, safety profile, and every drug interaction in one place Finasteride drug information The full plain-English guide to this medication Finasteride supplement interactions Every supplement checked against Finasteride, ranked by severity Supplement interaction checker Check any supplement or product against your medications Browse medications A–Z Every drug we’ve checked against herbs & supplements References The 75 citations behind this page Ask a pharmacist Free, personal answer from our licensed team

Still Have a Question About Finasteride and Beer?

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This information is for education only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always check with your pharmacist or doctor before starting, stopping, or combining supplements and medications.