5 Health Benefits of Drinking Beer

 

 

 

Since 2007, the first Friday of every August has been International Beer Day. It began as a small event in the western Untied States and has since grown into a global celebration spanning 50 countries in all 6 continents.

 

The event has 3 main goals:

  • To gather with friends and enjoy the taste of beer.
  • To celebrate those responsible for brewing and serving beer.
  • To unite the world under the banner of beer, by celebrating the beers of all nations together on a single day

 

To help give you peace-of-mind when drinking beer, we've found 5 health benefits you can get from drinking beer. Please note - these benefits may only occur if beer is drunk in moderation!

 

1) Keeps your heart ticking

It is usually wine which gets credit for keeping hearts healthy, however Italian researchers found that moderate beer drinkers had a 42% lower risk of heart disease compared to those who do not drink. However it is also advised that consumption should be kept to one pint (5 percent alcohol volume) a day.

 

2) Preventing type 2 diabetes

Researchers in the Netherlands studied 38,000 male health professionals and found that men who weren't big drinkers and started drinking moderately over 4 years, were significantly less likely to be diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Moderation is important though, increased consumption over time didn't lower the risk in men who already had a few beers each day!

 


3) Faster recovery

A study from Spain asked students to exercise until their body temperature reached 40 degrees and then had them rehydrate with either beer or water. To the surprise of the researchers, they found that students who had beer were slightly more hydrated than those who had H2O.

 

 

4) Less trips to the optician

Canadian researchers found that one beer a day, and especially lager or stout, can increase antioxidant activity which can prevent cataracts from forming in the eyes! However, be careful because it was also found that the opposite happened in participants who had three or more drinks a day.

 

5) Stronger bones

A study from Tufts University found that a couple of beers a day can actually strengthen bones! Males who drank one or two beers a day had up to 4.5% greater bone density than non-drinkers. However those who drank more than two beers a day were found to have up to 5.2% lower density.

 

Content provided by MensHealth