Light to moderate amounts of beer may help decrease the risk of diseases such as heart disease, neurodegenerative diseases, and type 2 diabetes. While there appears to be some benefit to drinking beer, it is not a beverage that individuals should consume excessively.
Moderate alcohol use for healthy adults generally means up to one drink a day for women and up to two drinks a day for men. Examples of one drink include: Beer: 12 fluid ounces (355 milliliters)
Beer has high levels of B vitamins, particularly folic acid, which is believed to help prevent heart attacks. Beer also has soluble fiber, good for keeping you regular, which in turn reduces the likelihood that your system will absorb unhealthy junk like fat.
To reduce the risk of harm from alcohol-related disease or injury, healthy men and women should drink no more than 10 standard drinks a week and no more than 4 standard drinks on any one day.
According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, drinking is considered to be in the moderate or low-risk range for women at no more than three drinks in any one day and no more than seven drinks per week. For men, it is no more than four drinks a day and no more than 14 drinks per week.
Senior author Dr. Emmanuela Gakidou referred to the idea that one or two drinks are safe for health as “a myth.” She said that her and her colleagues' research found that any level of drinking is tied to an increased risk of early death, cancer, and cardiovascular events.
A note on drinking level terms used in this Core article: The 2020-2025 U.S. Dietary Guidelines states that for adults who choose to drink alcohol, women should have 1 drink or less in a day and men should have 2 drinks or less in a day. These amounts are not intended as an average but rather a daily limit.
Some nutrition experts consider craft beer a more functional beverage since beer imparts medical benefits to the drinker. The healthiest are stouts and porters, and higher hoppy beers, such as DIPAs and Imperial IPAs, Trappist beers, and spontaneous fermented beers, such as Lambics and Gose.
Drinking alcohol affects many parts of your body, including your kidneys. A little alcohol—one or two drinks now and then—usually has no serious effects. However, excessive drinking–more than four drinks daily—can affect your health and worsen kidney disease.
Alcoholic beer is likely safe for most adults when used in moderation (two 12-ounce glasses daily). But drinking more than this is possibly unsafe. Drinking higher amounts of alcoholic beer can cause, blackouts, drowsiness, low blood sugar, vomiting, and other serious problems.
The study suggests that hops actually “protects against accumulation of liver fat” — so basically, pale ales are the healthiest beer to consume if you're concerned about your health but don't want to give up the delicious beverage.
Beer in moderate amounts may be good for heart and blood vessels mainly because of the alcohol in it. Consumption of 15–30 g of alcohol per day is associated with a 25% lower risk of cardiovascular disease mortality compared to abstainers. At this level of alcohol intake, coronary heart disease risk is reduced by 34%.
To reduce the risk of alcohol-related harms, the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends that adults of legal drinking age can choose not to drink, or to drink in moderation by limiting intake to 2 drinks or less in a day for men or 1 drink or less in a day for women, on days when alcohol is consumed.
Anyone who drinks alcohol regularly or heavily can damage their liver. The damage can be mild, like fatty liver. Or, it can be serious, like alcoholic hepatitis and/or cirrhosis. Mild liver disease, like fatty liver can be reversed completely if a person stops drinking alcohol.
Beer is rich in healthy compounds called polyphenols, which reduce inflammation and oxidative stress in the gut.
Ideal Styles that can be cellared: Barleywines, Imperial Stouts, Belgian style Quads, and other high-abv beers with dark malts. Barrel-aged sours and rauchbiers are lower ABV but can age beautifully. Beers that shouldn't be cellared: Any beers with hop-forward characteristics, such as IPAs and Pale Ales.
Beer: Which Is the More Addicting and Damaging Type of Alcohol? Alcohol is generally made up of the same compounds, so beer and hard liquor both pose similar risks to a person's health. The only catch is that hard liquor comes with a higher threat because it contains a higher alcohol content than beer.
Experts consider one drink of alcohol to be 12 ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine, or 1.5 ounce of hard liquor. Consuming an occasional glass or 2 of an alcoholic beverage usually won't cause harmful effects to individuals with full kidney function.
All beers contain large amounts of B vitamins, with particularly high concentrations of vitamins B-3, B-6 and B-9. This comes from the yeast content of beer, with unfiltered beers containing higher concentrations of B complex vitamins. For example, one can of beer contains 12.6 percent of your daily vitamin B-6.
Beer is rich in vitamin B, which is why it helps to keep your hair strong and shiny. While the protein found in malt and hops (the active ingredients in beer) can repair your damaged hair, the sucrose and maltose sugars work on the hair cuticles to strengthen them and make them shiny.
Alcohol and soft drinks both have the potential to wreak havoc on your health. But, between the devil and the deep sea, alcohol is a little less dangerous than soft drinks simply because it has a handful of health benefits. But, only if it is consumed in moderation.