Nutritional Benefits and Health Benefits of Beer

Research shows that moderate beer consumption has a lot of health and nutritional benefits. However, this is not your license to go binge-drinking, seeing that you can only have the benefits when you drink in moderation. If you drink beyond a few bottles, you increase your risk of cancer and other conditions. Granted, it is perfectly okay to toast to the holidays, birthdays, anniversaries and other occasions that deserve a toast.

Here are some of the benefits:

Beer is Nutritious

Wine is touted as a nutritious alcoholic drink thanks to the abundance of antioxidants in it. However, research shows that beer is more nutritious than wine. The antioxidants in beer are different from those in wine seeing that the flavonoids in grapes differ from those in barley and hops. Besides antioxidants, beer contains more proteins and vitamin B than wine.

Protect Your Heart

Research has linked moderate beer drinking with reduced risk of heart disease, heart attacks, and stroke. The study evaluates the effects of wine, beer, and other alcoholic beverages. This study shows that taking any alcoholic beverage in moderation is better than not taking at all.

Beer Reduces Risk of Kidney Stones

When you drink beer in moderation, you reduce the risk of kidney stones. A recent study showed that women and men who take beer in moderation reduced their risk of contracting kidney stones by up to 41 percent. The hops in beer have health-promoting phytochemicals that keep you safe of kidney stones.

Lowers Bad Cholesterol and Increase Good Cholesterol

The soluble fiber found in beer helps you reduce bad cholesterol or LDL. When you increase your intake of soluble fiber, you promote healthy blood sugar and cholesterol levels. However, note that, excessive intake of alcohol interferes with the intake of vitamins and minerals and can also lessen the body’s ability to burn fat. 

Strengthen Your Bones

Beer has a high silicon level than other alcoholic drinks. Granted, it helps build stronger bones. People take dietary silicon in the form of orthosilicic acid to help develop and strengthen bones and connective tissues. With the silicon in beer, you will not need dietary silicon to prevent osteoporosis.

Reduce Stress with Beer

Research has shown that moderate intake of beer can help relieve stress. Taking two glasses of beer every day can help lower stress hormone levels and increase the pleasure hormone levels. However, anyone who goes to beer every time to relieve stress might do more harm than good. If you take beer excessively, however, it might increase the feeling of anxiety and depression.

Beer and Memory and Cognitive Function

Xanthohumol is an ingredient in hops that can help improve memory. This is a flavonoid that can help reduce the degradation process of memory. Basically, the chemical protects the brain cells from the oxidative damage that comes with dementia. However, the dosage that researchers used was much higher than could ever be consumed through beer.

Moderate beer intake reduces brain degradation and therefore increases cognitive function according to research. The research suggests that moderate drinking means one beer a day in women and two beers a day in men.

Conclusion

The health and nutritional benefits of beer can only be seen with moderate beer intake. The reason why physicians do not endorse the health benefits of beer is the fear that doing so will get some people drinking excessively. Heavy beer drinking does more harm than good. It is linked to increased risk of liver cirrhosis, fetal alcohol syndrome, malnutrition, pancreatitis, and hypertension.

If you have a terminal illness, consult your primary care physician before taking beer. Beer might exacerbate medical conditions even when taken in moderation seeing that it reacts with most medications.