Top 10 Surprising Benefits of Drinking Beer

I bet it comes as a surprise that beer or any other alcoholic drink for that matter can be beneficial for our health. Well, it can! While wine is good for your heart, beer has up to ten health benefits starting with bone breakage risk reduction to warding off mental decline. Obviously, we cannot neglect the fact that beer can be fattening, so the key to its consumption is in moderation. There is a potential risk of liver damage as well as other health risks too, so don’t overdo it.

Editors Note: This is a guest post authored by Dan Radak, a beer lover – thanks to Dan for contributing the article! Obviously all of these benefits are tied to moderate beer consumption, so don’t overdo it!

Still, benefits of this drink are greater than you think. We list our top favorite ten:

1. Boosting Brain Health

Researchers found that having one beer per day may keep Alzheimer’s disease and other dementia at bay. The research also showed that in comparison to those who didn’t drink beer on daily basis those who did lowered their risk of mental decline by 20 percent. This may be due to silicon content in beer that protects the brain from aluminum effects which can be really harmful.

2. Healthier Kidneys

Beer is known to reduce risk of kidney stones by incredible 40%. Further, the fact beer contains up to 93% water helps flush toxins out of your body and keep kidneys working properly.

3. Lowers Heart Disease Risk

Believe it or not, research has shown that moderate consumption of beer can lower heart disease risk by 20% to 40%. Beer also has great anti-clotting effect which contributes to keeping blood vessels clean, healthy and free. Those who consumed one beer per day appeared to have lower levels of fibrinogen*.

4. Stronger Bones

Owing to its high silicon content, beer may be good for bone health. Silicon is found to improve bone strength and increase bone mineral density. Still, overconsumption of beer will weaken the bones while increasing the risk of bone fractures. So, when drinking it be mindful of these side effects and drink it in moderation.

5. Lowering Cancer Risk

Being high in antioxidants and flavanoids (particularly dark beers), beer is great in lowering the risk of cancer, especially prostate cancer for men. Further, beer contains xanthohumol which is a powerful antioxidant known to have anti-cancer properties.

6. Lowering Risk of Diabetes

The alcohol beer contains increases insulin sensitivity for which reason you get protected against diseases like diabetes. Still, drinking in moderation is advisable.

7. Guarding Against Stroke

Blood clots that tend to form can cause ischemic stroke and many other life threatening diseases or conditions. This occurs when an artery to the brain is blocked. Nevertheless, the arteries become flexible and blood flow improves significantly when you (regularly, in moderation) drink some beer.

8. Acts as a Multivitamin

It gets hard to believe that an alcoholic drink can be a source of vitamins! Still, it doesn’t get better than this. Apart from being rich in vitamin B (particularly homebrew), it is richest in Niacin which is also known as vitamin B3. Other than these, beer contains vitamins such as Choline, Flavonoids, Pantothenic Acid, other B vitamins and vitamin B6.

9. Clears skin and helps hair growth

All the vitamins in beer are really good for acne reduction and increasing natural skin shine. Further, beer acts as a great hair growth stimulator. The contents of hops and malt in beer make hair more healthy and act as an exceptional ingredient for hair growth. When you rinse your hair with beer and wash it off after few minutes, it gives a shine to the hair. Some hairstylists claim it too helps with damaged hair. The only problem is that strong smell beer has.

10. Rich in fiber content

Our body needs fibers, sugar and starches to function properly. Beer has all three. Even though fibers can be pretty hard/slow in digestion they stimulate the intestinal peristalsis. Beer is a drink which provides fiber content to our body when consumed.

*Fibrinogen is a protein that helps blood clotting reduction.

 About the author: Dan Radak is a beer lover, of all sorts, commercial and home brewed beer, he’s also a web writer and co-author on several websites. In his free time, he likes fishing or making homegrown beer. You can reach him on Twitter.

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