Drink up your beer, it’s healthy! Beer drinking can be good for you as long as you don’t drink too much.
In moderation, beer has many health benefits:
- Up to two beers a day for men (women should only have one), will help to reduce your risk of having strokes, and heart disease. Light drinking appears to reduce the risk by as much as 20% according to research in United States.
- Beer can help to increase the level of HDL (beneficial cholesterol) in the body and decrease the likelihood of blood clots.
- A couple of beers can raise the level of anti-oxidants in the blood stream. This enables the cells to carry more oxygen around the body. More oxygen helps better muscle activity among other things.
- Beer contains vitamin B6 which is needed to make haemoglobin, the red coloring in blood. This carries oxygen around the body. It also helps maintain correct blood sugar levels.
- It is fat free, aids restful sleep and promotes relaxation.
- Beer contains vitamins B and B2 (as well as B6) and essential minerals like calcium, potassium, and phosphorus.
- Dark beer is better for you than light. It contains more flavanoids which are natural oxidants that help to protect the body from disease.
- For post menopausal women, beer may be a beneficial addition to the diet. Some hop flavanoids have properties like oestrogen and research suggests that this property may make it possible to produce a natural form of HRT to replace the current one.
- Beer can help to reduce blood pressure and levels of insulin in the blood.
- Beer drinking can also reduce the incidence of kidney stones. This may be due to the water, the hops, or the alcohol, but, whatever the reason, it seems to help.
