It may be time to switch to drinking beer...

According to Lisa Collier Cool in Yahoo! Health, beer drinkers throughout the world should be jumping with joy!  Their favorite adult beverage de jour just may promote better health.

Ms. Cool culls together a body of recent research indicating that beer can be good for what ails people, perhaps more so than the more highly-touted adult beverage de jour, red wine.

[One caveat: These health benefits are associated with drinking 1, 12-ounce beer/day for females and 2/day for males.  More than that amount increases the odds of liver damage, some cancers, heart problems, as well as unhealthy weight gain.]

That said, what are the 10 benefits of drinking beer?

1. Stronger bones: Beer contains high levels of silicon which can increase bone density, with pale ale being the richest in silicon and light lagers and non-alcoholic beers containing the least.  Drinking more than the prescribed amount of beer each day is linked to increased risk for fractures.
2. A stronger heart: There appears to be a 31% reduced risk of heart disease in those who drink one pint of beer/day.  The risk is much higher for those who drink more than the prescribed amount of alcohol, whether beer, wine, or spirits.  A beer or two a day can raise HDL levels, the "good" cholesterol that helps keep arteries from getting clogged.  Moderate drinking reduces the risk of heart attacks and dying from cardiovascular disease by 25% to 40%.
3. Healtheir kidneys: Each bottle of beer that males drink daily lowers the risk of developing kidney stones by 40%.  This could be realed to beer’s high water content and/or the hops that help curb leeching of calcium from bones.
4. Boosting brain health: One beer/day may help keep Alzheimer’s disease and other dementia at bay and, in women, lowers the risk of mental decline perhaps by as much as 20%.  In addition, older women who had one drink/day scored, on average, about 18 months "younger" on tests of mental skills.
5. Reduced cancer risk: Marinating steak in beer eliminates almost 70% of the carcinogens (heterocyclic amines [or HCAs]) produced when meat is pan-fried.  Beer’s sugars may help block HCAs from forming.
6. Boosting vitamin levels: Beer drinkers appear to have 30% higher vitamin B6 levels in their blood than non-drinkers, and twice as much as wine drinkers.  Beer also contains vitamin B12 and folic acid.
7. Guarding against stroke: Moderate amounts of alcohol, including beer, help prevent blood clots that block blood flow to the heart, neck, and brain and, in particular, the most common type of clots that cause ischemic stroke.
8. Reduced risk for diabetes: When those who drink occasionally raise their alcohol intake to 1 or 2 beers or other drinks each day, their risk of developing type 2 diabetes dropped 25%.  However, there is no benefit associated with more than two drinks.  Alcohol appears to increase insulin sensitivity, thus helping protect against diabetes.
9. Lower blood pressure:  While wine is good for the heart, beer may be even better, especially for women aged 25 to 40.  Moderate beer drinkers are less likely to develop high blood pressure---a major risk factor for heart attack---than women who drank wine or spirits.
10. Longer life:  Moderate drinkers live longer, preventing perhaps 26k deaths/year in the United States due to lower rates of heart disease, stroke, and diabetes.

The Motley Monk is no beer aficionado, but when he does imbibe a brewski and as posted previously, his premiero choice is Chimay Grand Reserve (Blue Label).  When that's not available, it's Bass Ale or Yingling's Black and Tan.  When The Motley Monk cooks using beer, Sam Adams lager is his first choice and Yingling's lager is his second choice.

Never cooked with beer?  Or, interested in trying a very good recipe for roasting beef brisket in beer?  Check out The Motley Monk's recipe for beef brisket roasted in porter beer!



The Motley Monk's beef brisket
roasted in porter beer

Let the Gemütlichkeit begin...



To read Lisa Collier Cool's article, click on the following link:
http://health.yahoo.net/experts/dayinhealth/10-surprising-health-benefits-beer

To read The Motley Monk's recipe for beef brisket roasted in porter beer, click on the following link:
http://www83.homepage.villanova.edu/richard.jacobs/FOOD/Brisket%20in%20Porter%20Beer.htm