If you drink beer every night and it's become part of your nightly routine as a way to relax
after work, you might start to wonder how that's impacting your health. Turns out the
benefits, and consequences, of beer vary greatly by how much you drink.
It may sound far-fetched, but drinking beer may just stave off heart disease. Researchers
at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts found that men and women who
drank up to seven drinks each week experienced a significantly lower risk, 20 percent in
men and 16 percent in women, of heart failure when compared to people who abstained from
alcohol. Scott Solomon, the study's lead author and a senior physician at Brigham and Women's
Hospital, summed up their findings like this:
"These findings suggest that drinking alcohol in moderation does not contribute to an increased
risk of heart failure and may even be protective. No level of alcohol intake was associated
with a higher risk of heart failure. However, heavy alcohol use is certainly a risk factor
for deaths from any cause."
Still, Solomon cautioned that although the study shows an association between drinking
and a lower risk of heart failure, that wasn't to be taken as an indication that moderate
alcohol consumption caused the lower risk as well.
According to a 2018 study, alcohol is the third-leading cause of death in the United
States. The World Health Organization also states that,
"Alcohol use is a risk factor for many cancer types including cancer of the oral cavity,
pharynx, larynx, oesophagus, liver, colorectum and breast."
But there's a little more to the story. Theresa Hydes, a researcher at the United Kingdom's
University Hospital Southampton, told Discover magazine:
"While alcohol causes seven types of cancer, the risk of most of these cancers does not
increase significantly until an individual starts drinking heavily."
However, she noted that breast cancer is the anomaly. She stressed that at moderate levels
of alcohol intake, about 10 drinks per week, the risk of breast cancer goes up more than
it does for other alcohol-related cancers.
That said, Hydes clarified that consuming one to two cans of beer a few times each week
is, quote, "probably not harmful." At the same time, she also stressed these findings
shouldn't be seen as a reason for someone who has previously abstained to start drinking.
Although Mildred Bowers, who made headlines for turning 103 in 2016, recommends beer for
others who want to live into their 100s, she said longevity is really all down to who's
got the genes for it.
As it turns out, though, a study later confirmed that both light and moderate drinking does
indeed decrease the risk of mortality in both sexes, but especially so in women, as reported
by The Telegraph. In fact, moderate drinking is attributed to a 25 percent decrease in
what's called, quote, "all-cause mortality" and a 34 percent decreased risk of cardiovascular
disease-related mortality in women.
Still, the study's authors continued to stress that those who do choose to drink should be
mindful of how much they're consuming. But there's good news for older women in particular:
Giovanni de Gaetano, director of the department of epidemiology added:
"For most older persons, the overall benefits of light drinking, especially the reduced
cardiovascular disease risk, clearly outweigh possible cancer risk."
Not every medical expert believes drinking beer can lead to a long life. After reviewing
large quantities of data, physician scientist Sarah M. Hartz revealed that,
"...we now know that even the lightest daily drinkers have an increased mortality risk...A
20 percent increase in risk of death is a much bigger deal in older people who already
are at higher risk. Relatively few people die in their 20s, so a 20 percent increase
in mortality is small but still significant."
But what about the benefits to heart health? Hartz acknowledged that those benefits are
real. She said,
"Consuming one or two drinks about four days per week seemed to protect against cardiovascular
disease, but drinking every day eliminated those benefits."
So, should you or should you not be drinking a nightly beer? Unfortunately, the science
very much depends on you. Hertz says:
"If you tailor medical recommendations to an individual person, there may be situations
under which you would think that occasional drinking potentially could be helpful."
Having a beer every night doesn't mean you're addicted to alcohol. But it can mean you've
developed a dependence. And there is a difference. George Koob, director of the National Institute
on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, explained to Men's Health:
"Dependence often goes hand in hand with addiction, but they're not the same things. You can become
dependent on almost any substance if it's part of your daily rhythm, but that doesn't
mean you're addicted."
Dependence isn't unique to beer or alcohol, and Koob further revealed to the publication
that you could also become dependent on something as innocuous as eating dinner at the same
time every night. According to him,
"Anything that disrupts your normal routine is going to put you on edge, but that's not
an indication you have a use disorder."
Nevertheless, it is wise to pay attention to your consumption habits. If one is your
normal limit unless you're under a lot of stress, that could turn into a major problem.
If you go through a major stressor in life that increases your number of drinks over
a longer period of time, that's something to be concerned about.
Move over milk, beer is here to strengthen our bones. According to a 2010 study conducted
by researchers from the department of food science and technology at the University of
California, Davis, beer was found to be an abundant source of dietary silicon. The chemical
can increase bone mineral density and may, in turn, help prevent osteoporosis.
Those of you who like hoppy or malty beers will see the most of these benefits. That's
because of the way these types of beers are brewed; researchers looked at the amount of
silicon in the raw materials of these beers and then compared it to the final product.
Since most of the silicon is in the barley husk, it's the beers made from barley that
hasn't been heavily roasted that are the best for your bones. Alternately, researchers also
found that hops contained more silicon than grain, so, the higher the hops, the better
it is for your bones.
What does that mean in a practical sense? That you should reach for the hoppiest beers
you can find if you want to make the most of this benefit. While you can't exactly call
it a health drink, there's no denying the science.
Despite being good for heart health, beer can still raise your blood pressure. But it's
not as simple as that. There are other studies that seem to suggest that light to moderate
drinking can result in a subtle drop in blood pressure in some cases. So, if alcohol does
happen to raise your blood pressure as opposed to lowering it, is that safe? Arthur Klatsky,
an investigator for Kaiser Permanente's research division, explained to WebMD:
"Adults above the age of 50 are at much higher risk of heart attack and stroke than they
are of any possible harmful effects to light-moderate drinking. So even if they have high blood
pressure, they could see the health benefit from something like a glass of red wine a
day."
Or, you know, a can of beer.
It's well-known that beer contains a lot of good things, and while that's all well and
good, don't expect overindulging in alcohol every night for weeks at a time to do your
body good. Alcohol, including beer, can actually mean you're going to end up lacking in some
vital nutrients. Rob Hobson, nutritional director at Healthspan and co-author of The Detox Kitchen
Bible, explained to Express that regular drinking can have unforeseen side-effects. According
to Hobson,
"Alcohol can increase the demand for certain nutrients used to help the body deal with
alcohol, such as the B vitamins."
Although you could normally get a dose of vitamin B12 from dairy, eggs, and beef, your
body is going to have a hard time absorbing them if you drink too much beer over an extended
period of time.
What's going on here is a sort of domino effect. Even moderate consumption of alcohol can cause
inflammation of the stomach, and it's this inflammation that causes your body's cells
to stop producing what's known as the "intrinsic factor," which is what aids absorption of
B vitamins. And that, over the long term, could lead to the build-up of a compound called
homocysteine. A buildup of that compound could increase a person's risk for heart attack
or stroke.
Drinking any kind of alcohol in excess can lead to developing alcoholic liver disease.
According to Medical News Today, this potentially fatal condition is a result of, quote, "overconsuming
alcohol that damages the liver, leading to a buildup of fats, inflammation, and scarring."
Beer-drinkers are more at risk to develop this disease than are wine-drinkers, the publication
reported. Women, too, are at an increased risk of developing alcohol-induced liver injuries
due to the slower rate at which they metabolize alcohol.
Nevertheless, the amount of alcohol consumed makes a difference. Women who drink more than
two drinks a day and men who drink more than three per day for longer than five years are
more likely to develop alcoholic liver disease, according to a report published in The American
Journal of Gastroenterology. And that's something to think about in the long-term.
Charles Bamforth, a professor of malting and brewing sciences at the University of California,
Davis has said that beer contains more nutrients than any other alcoholic beverage. The list
of nutrients is a long one, and that includes fiber: beer's full of it. Bamforth says:
"This [fiber] is broken down to form [probiotics] which help promote the growth of healthy bacteria
in the gut. Research has shown that low doses of alcohol, including beer, stimulate appetite
and promote bowel function in the elderly."
Polyphenols are also found in beer, and a study published in 2007 by the British Journal
of Nutrition confirmed that these compounds may indeed benefit the immune system. Consume
too much beer or wine, though, and you can actually suppress your immune system. It's
impossible to stress too much: moderation is key, and it's important not to go overboard
when it comes to those nightly beers. It's easy to do, and it's easy to undo all the
potential good that knocking back a cold one can do for you, mind, body, and soul.
"I'm excited, I feel relaxed, and I'm ready to party!"
It's important to know what happens to your body when you drink and the ways drinking
alcohol can affect your looks. And, because of the nutritional content of beer, Bamforth
also stresses that when you're drinking, you'll need to keep in mind that you're consuming
calories, too. He says, quote, "beer is in no way empty calories."
George Philliskirk, a specialist in yeast research at The Institute of Brewing and Distillery,
further explained it this way:
"Glass for glass, beer is less calorific than wine. It is the lifestyle that gives a beer-drinker
a belly, not the drinking itself. Although the volume of beer consumed is generally more
than wine, if you limit yourself to a pint a day you are consuming only a few more calories
than if you drank a large glass of wine."
Beer has been obviously deemed the culprit of its namesake the "beer belly," but it's
true that ale is not solely responsible. It doesn't matter if you're drinking too much
beer, eating too much cake, chowing down on too many snacks in front of the TV, or hitting
the local fast food drive through too often. It's all going to add up to extra calories
and some extra weight. It's all about moderation, and maintaining a healthy lifestyle, with
or without a frosty cold beverage each and every night.
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