8 health benefits of beer that will boggle your mind

Oktoberfest has started in Munich. Beer usually gets a bad name for being something that fattens you up, throws your fitness regime for a toss and also damages your liver. But beer does have some fun health benefits: 

It makes your heart healthier

A study found that drinking a pint of beer a day improves your heart health. Scientists found that blood flow to the heart improved within a couple of hours of drinking 2/3 rds of a British pint* and the results were better than people who drank a non-alcoholic equivalent! The drinkers’ arteries became more flexible and blood flow improves within a couple of hours drinking! The study which was carried out in Greece supports previous evidence that moderate beer consumption protects against heart disease and reduces the risks of heart attacks and strokes by 30%. This is one of the first studies that actually observe the changes in the cardiovascular system after consuming alcohol. 

 *A British pint is 568ml and 2/3rd of it would be 378ml.

It makes you live longer

Researchers have claimed that alcohol lengthens telomeres – the end points of chromosomal DNA – and the longer your telomeres, the longer you live! Telomeres, made of DNA and proteins, mark the ends of the strands of DNA in our chromosomes. They are essential to ensuring that the DNA strands are repaired and copied correctly. An earlier study had revealed that the longer your telomeres are, the longer you will live – dependent, of course, on not dying accidentally, from disease or from lifestyle factors.

It makes you happy

Now before you start scratching your head why they needed a study to come to this conclusion, they needed to figure out why beer makes you happy. Researchers claimed that beer even without its alcoholic content has a similar effect on the human brain and triggers dopamine in the same way drugs and other alcoholic drinks do.  Using positron emission tomography (PET), the researchers at Indiana University School of Medicine tested 49 men with two scans, one in which they tasted beer, and the second in which they tasted Gatorade. The researchers were looking for evidence of increased levels of dopamine, a brain neurotransmitter that has long been associated with alcohol and other drugs. The scans showed significantly more dopamine activity following the taste of beer than the sports drink.

The dark variety reduces the carcinogens in grilled meat

A study found that dark beer lessens the number of carcinogens created when meat is grilled. Isabel M. P. L. V. O. Ferreira of the Universidade do Porto and colleagues note the potential link between grilled meats and colorectal cancer, as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) form when high temperatures are used to grill meat. These hydrocarbons are also found in car exhaust and cigarette smoke. Beer, wine and tea marinades had all been shown to reduce the levels of some potential carcinogens in cooked meat, but little was known about how different types of beer might affect results and they found the dark variety was best.

 It can double up as medicine

Ok not exactly drinking it but this still counts as a form of medicine. The structure of humulones — acids that give beer its distinctive flavour — has been unlocked by researchers. This could help design better drugs for diabetes, some cancers and other maladies. ‘Now that we have the right results, what happens to the bitter hops in the beer-brewing process makes a lot more sense,’ said Werner Kaminsky, University of Washington research associate professor of chemistry, who led the study. There is documentation that beer and its bittering acids, in moderation, have beneficial effects on diabetes, some forms of cancer, inflammation and perhaps even weight loss, the journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition reports.

 Beer drinkers have more sex

It doesn’t matter if you’re bisexual, gay, heterosexual, male or female – beer drinkers have sex earlier than those who don’t! Men and women who enjoy a pint are 60 per cent more likely to sleep with someone early in a relationship, statistics show. This applies to both gay and straight people, according to Christian Rudder, a Harvard graduate who set up dating website OKCupid, Daily Mail reported recently. After analysing the profiles and interactions of hundreds of millions of users, Rudder found that beer-drinking was the most useful indicator of whether people are likely to have casual sex.

Beer hydrates your body better post a workout

Researchers have suggested that drinking beer after a workout rehydrates the body better than water. Professor Manuel Garzon at Granada University in Spain also claimed the carbonation in beer helps to quench the thirst and that its carbohydrate content can help replace lost calories, the Washington Times reported. The study involved a group of students who were asked to work out until their body temperature reached 104 degrees. Later, half of the students were giving beer while the researchers gave water to the other half. The results showed that hydration effect in those who drank beer was ‘slightly better’ than those who had consumed water.

It can keep arthritis at bay

A study found that drinking a pint of beer may prevent arthritis. Researchers say that a diet consisting of alcohol three times a week may prove to be beneficial in your defence against arthritis (a painful condition of the joints). Symptoms are joint swelling and pain, which is caused by the immune system attacking healthy tissue. They believe that the action of alcohol on the body dampens the immune system, thereby reducing the rate at which arthritis progresses.

Disclaimer: DNA does not endorse the illegal or irresponsible consumption of alcohol. Overconsumption of beer could lead to weight gain, obesity, diabetes, erectile dysfunction, liver diseases and a host of other ailments.  

Originally published on www.healthsite.com