One of those proverbs you see up on chalkboards in pubs says, ‘If you don’t drink, you don’t live longer – it just seems longer.’
Actually, that’s complete hogwash – beer helps you live longer.
And that’s just one of the health benefits of this marvellous, fizzy tonic. Here’s a few more (scientifically sound) reasons to pour yourself a beer RIGHT NOW.
Virginia Tech researchers found that regular, moderate beer drinkers were 19% less likely to die during a given time period than people who never touch a drop.
2) Drinking beer makes you thin
A new book, The Diet Myth by King’s College London Professor Tim Spector, claims that everything we know about losing weight is wrong – and that drinking Belgian beer is actually good for your gut bacteria, which can aid efficient digestion.
An ingredient in beer can even help your body to fight cancer.
Xanthohumol – a flavonoid found in hops – is an antioxidant which inhibits cancer-causing enzymes.
4) Beer keeps your brain sharp
A study at UCL found there wasn’t actually much scientific evidence behind the idea of beer giving drinkers the distinctive ‘beer belly’.
The researchers wrote, ‘There is a common notion that beer drinkers are, on average, more ‘obese’ than either non-drinkers or drinkers of wine or spirits.
‘The association between beer and obesity, if it exists, is probably weak.
Never mind the fact that it’s pretty unlikely that you’ll drink 10 pints of skimmed milk, beer is LOW CAL.
Guinness released statistics showing that its heavy, dark brew is lower in calories than either OJ or skimmed milk.
Although they won’t protect you against not being able to remember what happened last night.
A recent study found Xanthohumol, a compound in the hops used to flavour beer, is able to protect the brain from degenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
‘If you analysed beer you would be amazed at how many super-nutrients there are in it,’ says Dr Stephan Domenig, medical director of the Mayr Health Centre in Austria.
By Edmondo Burr, METRO