At the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, Dr. Margo A. Denke, an Associate Professor of Medicine, conducted clinical research on the health effects of alcohol, and beer in particular. The results of her 2001 study found that moderate consumption of alcohol can lower risk of heart disease and stroke. “The majority of more recent large population-based studies have observed that moderate drinking in the range of one to three drinks daily is associated with a 30-40 percent lower rate of coronary heart disease compared to non-drinking,” wrote Dr. Denke. She cited several reasons for her findings.
alcohol increases HDL and this could account for 30-50 percent of the moderate alcohol consumption benefit alcohol increases bleeding time, acting as blood thinner and reducing the risk of coronary thrombosis alcohol lowers insulin levels, which is good for non-diabetics because it reduces the chance of developing atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries
Dr. Denke believes that beer is a more beneficial alcoholic drink than spirits because beer contains many more nutrients per serving, such as protein and B-vitamins and minerals such as magnesium, cadmium and iron. She found that one to two beers a day provides 14 percent of dietary calories, 11 percent of dietary protein, 12 percent of dietary carbohydrates, nine percent of dietary phosphorus, seven percent of dietary riboflavin and five percent of dietary niacin.
A professor of internal medicine at the University of Texas, Normal D. Kaplan, has been conducting a forty year study on treatments for hypertension. He explained that as part of the study he had 70,000 female nurses drink moderate amounts of beer, wine or spirits.? He pointed out that due to the process in which beer is made it is rich in B vitamins and foliates, which are found in leafy vegetables.He found that the nurses that drank the beer had less hypertension then those that drank the other types of alcohol.???
According to the August 13th 2002 edition of the Wall Street Journal there are some health benefits to drinking beer.? The article touched on the fact that over a 20 year study beer has been found to boot sprits, reduce stress, and help protect against heart attacks, stroke, hypertension, diabetes and dementia.
In a study conducted by the Kaiser Permanente manages care system male beer drinkers had a statistically lower occurrence of coronary heart disease that those that drank wine or spirits.?
It is already a well know fact that the brewing and fermenting process of the brew can be quite beneficial in limiting the growth of illness causing bacteria.
So basically if you are looking for just another great reason to drink beer it could be science!
Mike writes articles about all the joys of beer. He publishes a website at http://www.beermugworld.com The site is more about the Beer Glass state of mind rather than the actual mug itself.
