Beer ‘good for you’

We’ve always thought of beer as being good, now we can say that it is good for you. Dutch researchers have discovered that a pint of beer may help protect against heart disease more effectively than red wine or spirits.

Beer contains vitamin B6 which prevents the build up in the body of a chemical called hymocysteine, thought to be linked to an increase in the risk of heart disease.

The study, conducted by reasearches at the TNO Nutrition and Food Research Institute, studied 111 healthy men who each drank beer, red wine, spirits, and water, for three weeks, with dinner.

Dr. Henk Hendriks and his colleagues found that homocysteine levels did not rise after consuming beer, but did increase after drinking wine and spirits. Meanwhile, beer drinkers had a 30% increase of vitamin B6 in blood plasma, while those who had drunk wine and spirits had increased by a smaller amount.

Doctors warn, however, not to use this as an excuse to drink more beer. After all, moderation in everything!

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