As we enter full swing to the Christmas season of 2012 we are greeted by parties left and right starting from company parties to family gatherings or reunions as well as catching up with friends.
With that we all know that aside from enjoying good food as well as good company there will always be some drinking involved. Although as we've aged we move on to moderate drinking as well as deviating from the usual beer drinking and switch to wine which has been tagged as a healthy choice. We all know that red wine is rich in heart-friendly antioxidants. But did you know that your favorite beer could be healthier than you realize. Beer can help you lower the risk of heart diseases, strokes, gallstones and kidney stones! Now that is a very welcome development to the millions of men out their who are fond of having a few bottles every once in a while (or maybe everyday in some cases). This might be the case when creating or making beer is now sophisticated that its contents are actually much purer and safe for the body compared to when beer making was a century ago.
Gone are the days when beer was associated with sagging bellies; your favorite bottle is now gaining a status of a drink with health benefits – of course when consumed in moderation! This means, while men can consume about 710 ml of beer per day, women should limit it to 355 ml, to reap the health benefits. If you overdo it, just like any alcohol, beer too can take its toll on your health. So let’s look at the benefits and risks of drinking beer.
3 Benefits of drinking beer according to website mDPhil:
Helps protect bones: Beer, when consumed in moderation, is said to protect your bone health as it is high in silicon content. Several studies have shown that beer may help in preventing bone loss and also rebuild bone mass in men and young women. However, no benefits have been seen in women in the post-menopausal stage.
Healthy heart: Just like an apple a day keeps the doctor away, a beer a day may help you keep heart diseases away. Moderate consumption of beer has many benefits and one of them is the significant increase in HDL (good) cholesterol. The good cholesterol has anti-clotting effects which keeps the blood vessels clear and healthy.
Healthy kidneys: A study conducted by Finnish researchers found that people who consumed beer were at a lower risk of developing kidney stones when compared to those who drank other types of alcohol. And this benefit could be due to the high water content in beer. In addition, the beer’s hops – a flower which gives beer its bitterness and also acts as a preservative — is said to prevent kidney stones as it slows down the release of calcium from bones.
Source: Yahoo!