Beer is good for you! A pint a day could protect your heart
Source: The Telegraph
Saffron Alexander
11 May 2016
Good news for hopheads: the key to good heart health could be drinking a glass of beer a day.
Writing in the journal Nutrition, Metabolism & Cardiovascular Disease, scientists from the Mediterranean Neurological Institute in Italy claimed that drinking moderate amounts of beer daily could reduce the risk of heart disease by up to 25 per cent.
The team conducted a comprehensive review of more than 150 studies and concluded that drinking up to two 1.4 pints of beer a day for men, and half of that for women, could have a beneficial effect on heart health.
They also found that drinking these amounts daily made no difference to people’s chances of getting dementia, cancer, or other diseases.
The scientists wrote: “Unless they are at high risk for alcohol-related cancers of alcohol dependency, there is no reason to discourage healthy adults who are already light or moderate beer consumers from continuing.
“Data reported in this document show evidence for no harm of moderate beer consumption for major chronic conditions and some benefit against cardiovascular disease.”
The research comes just months after chief medical officer Dame Sally Davies issued new guidelines recommending the public to limit their alcohol consumption to just 14 units a week.
At the time, Dame Sally said the public should contemplate the risks of cancer before taking a sip: “Do as I do when I reach for my glass of wine – think ‘Do I want the glass of wine or do I want to raise my own risk of breast cancer?
“I take a decision each time I have a glass.”
She added that science has indicated even moderate drinking could raise the risk of every kind of cancer. But the Italian scientists found that while drinking was linked to a slight increase in the risk of mouth, throat and breast cancers, it has no effect on the odds of developing other forms of the disease: “There is no evidence that beer drinking is different from other types of alcoholic beverages in respect to risk for some cancers.
“Evidence consistently suggests a J-shaped relationship between alcohol consumption (including beer) and all-cause mortality, with lower risk for moderate alcohol consumers than for abstainers or heavy drinkers.”