For those of you who only thought that drinking red wine is good for one’s health, and not beer, think again. Beer is now being found to be not only as good as red wine for maintaining good health, but in many cases even better. Beer contains many healthful nutrients, including B vitamins, and is found to decrease the risks of heart attacks in a similar manner as red wine does.
In a study conducted by Dr. Norman Kaplan, a professor of internal medicine at the Southwest Regional Medical Center of the University Texas at Dallas, it was found that people consuming moderate amounts of beer had less hypertension and reduced risks of coronary artery disease. The study included a survey conducted with more than 128,000 adults who belong to a major health care organization. As compared to people who did not drink beer, or drank red wine instead, it was found that moderate beer consumption not only decreased risks of heart disease but also increased bone density.
Certain types of beer, especially the more dense varieties such as porter and stout, contain high amounts of B vitamins, iron, and folates. Folates help reduce levels of homocysteine, a chemical that increases risks of heart attacks.
In addition to lowering the risks of both heart attacks and strokes, moderate daily beer consumption helps reduce the chance of contracting Type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis (due to beer’s high silicon content), and old age dementia, otherwise known as senility.
Moderate beer consumption, is around two 12 oz glasses of beer per day for men, and one glass per day for women. Those who drink large quantities of beer or other alcoholic beverages per day (known as “binge” drinking), run the chance of doing adverse damage to their bodies, as well as becoming what is known as “alcoholics”.
Beer has always had a place in what is known as folk medicine; especially brands containing large quantities of malt. But like many other things done excessively drinking too much can be harmful. So, the key to maintaining good health is to drink no more than two beers per day to “keep the doctor away”.