Beer Protects Us From Alzheimers and Parkinsons!

Chinese scientists recently released a study suggesting that Xanthohumol (Xn), a compound found in hops, protects the brain against the damage caused by Alzheimer's Disease and Parkinson's Disease. Xn is known to be an antioxidant and protects us from heart disease and cancer. The scientists suggest that to obtain the best benefits, we should drink organic beer with no added alcohol (?) in moderation.

I wonder if eating hops would provide the same protection? Graham Kerr, in his Swiftly Seasoned cookbook used hops in a German spice blend.

Beer for Male Fertility

Massachusetts General Hospital released a study that examined more than 100 men at the hospital whose partners were undergoing in vitro fertilization between 2007 and 2013. Men who drank a pint and a half a day were twice as likely to have a successful IVF session.

Coffee drinkers, though, cut their chances of a successful session to 1 in 5.

Got a Cold? Drink Beer.

Sapporo Brewing in Japan recently released a study that says the humulone in hops can help the body fight the virus that causes the common cold. Unfortunately, you'd have to drink 30 cans for it to be effective.

Sapporo is investigating the idea of adding humulone to food.

Meanwhile, the protein in hops also makes you hair and skin shinier.

Beer Prevents Hypertension

A study by the Association of the Spanish Society of Hypertension-Spanish League to Fight Arterial Hypertension and the Beer and Health Information Center (whew!), has discovered that beer in moderation, in addition with the Mediterranean diet, can help prevent hypertension. For women that's 1-2 beers a day. For men that's 2-3 beers a day.

Turns out, the low sodium and high potassium of beer is healthy, and can help increase good cholesterol, especially in women.

Beer is Good For You!

The Boston Globe recently reported that beer in moderation can help lower the risk of heart disease and kidney stones, and build strong bones.

And some Japanese researchers have discovered that the part of the hop plant NOT used in the brewing process could be helpful in treating tooth decay and gum disease.

Abstainers More Likely to Die Young

Charles Holahan of the University of Texas at Austin recently published a study that spent 20 years looking at people between 55 and 65. They found that alcohol abstainers had a higher mortality rate than heavy drinkers and moderate drinkers (1-3 drinks a day). 69% of the abstainers, 60% of the hard drinkers, and 41% of the moderate drinkers died early.

The study factored in the increased risks for cirrhosis and cancer as well as accidents and poor judgment from heavy drinking.

It's possible that the alcohol is helping drinkers maintain social networks, which maintain mental and physical health. Also, moderate drinking has been shown to improve heart health and circulation. Non-drinkers tend to be more depressed than drinkers.

Cheers!

Beer Consumption Might Influence Longevity

This is too complicated for me to explain in my own words, so I shall let Roshni Mahesh of the International Business Times do it:

Telomeres manage the ageing process by playing a major role in the division of cells. The length of telomeres becomes shorter with each stage of cell division. The process continues until the telomeres become too short, leading to cell death and ageing. Telomere shortening has long been known to damage immunity and increase risk of cancer.

A study by Prof. Martin Kupiec and his team from Tel Aviv University showed that coffee can shorten the length of the telomeres. Alcohol improves the length.

So does this mean I should stop having coffee in the morning?

The Newest Brewery in Texas - Your Stomach?

NPR recently published a story about a 61 year old man who stumbled into an ER and complained of dizziness. The nurses suspected the man was drunk and gave him a breathalyzer test, which the man failed, clocking in at 0.37. The man was adamant that he hadn't had a beer all day! It happened before, he said. He said it would happen at church and other odd times of the day.

Sure, the nurses said, nudging and winking at each other, figuring he was secretly drinking. But Dr. Justin McCarthy, a gastroenterologist in Lubbock decided to look into the matter, and learned that the man, a homebrewer, had brewers yeast in his intestinal track and when he ate sugary foods, it would ferment and create ethanol. It's called auto-brewery syndrome. It usually occurs after someone takes anti-biotics which wipe out the natural bugs in the gut. The brewers yeast then can grow to create a mini brewery.

Still no word if the man has received TABC label approval.

Oh Happy Day! Beer is Good for Your Heart!

Scientists at Harokopio University in Athens took 17 college students, put them through a cardiovascular exam before the experiment, and then gave them a pint of beer. Blood flow to the heart improved within a couple of hours of finishing two-thirds of a pint (or a more scholarly 400 ml of alcohol). The scientists speculate that the combination of alcohol and antioxidants in beer may be be the cause, and suggest that darker beers, such as stout and ale, are better for the heart than a pale lager.

Let's Start Calling it the "Alcohol Belly"

We've all heard it called a Beer Belly. However, beer isn't the cause, alcohol is.

The Washington Times quotes University of California food science professor Charles Bamforth as saying, “The beer belly is a complete myth. The main source of calories in any alcoholic beverage is alcohol. There’s nothing magical about the alcohol in beer, it’s just alcohol.”

Excessive alcohol consumption can cause a fluid buildup in the abdominal area, an indication of liver damage rather than simple fat storage.

Well, until I read that last fact, I was feeling pretty good about beer.

The Horror! The Pub Owner Allergic to Beer!

Imagine waking up one day, after months of feeling ill, and learning that you are allergic to the product you sell.

Shudder.

Alistair Scott was the first beer sommelier in the UK two years ago. He travels around the country matching beer and food for pub owners, and he own two pubs himself.

After months of feeling ill, he learned he was allergic to yeast. So now, instead of full pints, he has to sip the beer.

The poor bastige.

"It could have been caused by drinking too much of it. I mainly drink ales and they are very heavily yeasted so I may have just overloaded my body," he said. So he's switching to lagers, though he would prefer to give up bread.

Coffee is Good for Your Liver

If you are a regular consumer of alcohol, you should probably start drinking coffee.  Especially if you are a man.


Finnish researchers measured the liver enzyme gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT) of 19,000 Finnish men and women between ages 25 and 74. Drinking alcohol raises the level of GGT. Men who drink 3.5 drinks daily had the highest levels, which can lead to alcoholic liver disease. But among those heavy drinkers who consumed more than five cups of coffee a day showed a 50% reduction in GGT versus men who didn't drink coffee. But don't get cocky! The researchers aren't sure if this decrease in the enzyme leands to health improvement or a decreased risk of liver disease.

Oh, and smoking, older age and being overweight can also raise GGT levels.

Beer is Good For You Hair - If You Use It Wrong

I think I know why I'm balding.  I'm drinking the beer and not shampooing with it.

"The malt and hops found in your beer are loaded with protein, which nourishes and strengthens hair. The nutrients found in beer can even help repair dried out damaged hair to its former lusciousness. The protein binds to hair dehydrated from blow drying, straightening and harsh weather, and restores strength and body to it. Plus, the alcohol in the beer contains B vitamins that load up your hair with shine. (They actually tighten the hair’s cuticles, which makes light bounce off of your hair. Hence shiner. But, that’s all scientific and such.)"

Damn Moderation!

Thanks to Jay Brooks for this information. Beer is sooo good for you.

In moderation.

Dammit.

Click here to embiggen.

Happy New Year!

We'll start off the New Year with some beer health news from Deccan Chronicle, an Indian news website. Take it with a grain of salt:

• beer has a number of natural antioxidants and vitamins that can help prevent heart disease and even rebuild muscle
• beer has one of the highest energy contents of any food or drink, but you need to set limits: one beer gets you going and four make you fat
• beer may actually provide better hydration than water alone when you're sweating it out under the sun
• Calorie-wise, one may be tempted to grab a light lager, but a dark beer is the better choice for health benefits
• Dark beers tend to have the most antioxidants, which help reverse cellular damage that occurs naturally in the body.
• microbrews are healthier than mass-produced beers, because they have more hops, which contain polyphenols that help lower cholesterol, fight cancer and kill viruses.

Compound in Beer Could Fight Viruses

Sapporo Medical Center in Tokyo published a study reporting that the compound humulone is hops that can help mitigate the respiratory syncytial virus, which is the cause of most respiratory illness. It is the leading cause of pneumonia and bronchitis in infants and older adults in the US.

Well, then. Tonight I'll take the oral medicine to prevent pneumonia.

Beer Bellies Cause Broken Bones!

MSNBC is reporting that beer guts are bad for you. Shocking!

Dr. Miriam Bredella studied 34 obese men (half with beer bellies, and half with fat stored all over their bodies) whose average age was 34. They learned that men with significant abdominal fat have weaker bones. She believes it is probably hormone related.

Beer Keeps Your Muscles Strong in Old Age

A recent study by Tokushima University, a substance found in hops, 8-prenylnarigenin (8-PN), appears to help prevent muscle deterioration in rats. This promises to help astronauts on long space missions keep muscle tone.  Good, right?

Well, not so much. Turns out you would need to drink 22 to 5,000 gallons of beer a day.

Here's a start!

Cut Weekly Consumption of Alcohol to a Quarter Pint? Oh, Hell No!

In order to cut the rates of cancer, liver disease and other drinking related disease, English busybodies researchers are suggesting that the government say that consumption of alcohol should be limited to a quarter of a pint of lager a week.

Really? A pint a month? I'm lucky to get a pint to last 45 minutes!

Drink Beer, Fight Obesity!

Johnan Auwerx, head of the Ecole Polytechnique Federale in Lausanne, Switzerland, has found a miracle molecule called nicotinamide riboside (NR) that can help fight obesity, lengthen your lifespan AND improve muscle strength without side effects, says an article in the Times of India. It has also been found in milk and other foods.

Working with Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, his team found that mice on a high-fat diet that were fed NR gained significantly less weight - 60 per cent - than mice eating the same diet without NR supplements.

And none of the NR-treated mice indicated that they were developing diabetes, unlike the untreated mice.

Mice which were fed with NR supplements over a ten-week period showed better endurance performance than those who were not.

They were also in better shape - and this was confirmed by observations of their muscle fibres under the microscope.

The article ends by saying that they don't know how much you would have to drink to get enough NR to see results.

Probably far too much at one sitting than I am capable of.