Alcoholic beverages have gotten a bad rap. People often stay away from these for health reasons. And while too much of it is undoubtedly detrimental, health experts are starting to see that some may actually be beneficial, if taken responsibly, of course.
Red wine, for instance, is actually good for the heart. Some say that you may take two small glasses of it daily because it contains healthy cholesterol. As for beer, this also comes with its own set of benefits that not too many people are aware of.
Like wine, beer can actually present you with some health benefits. Of course, this is only when it’s consumed in moderation. After all, too much of anything isn’t good. As for non-alcoholic beers, these have become very popular recently. The question is, are these also just as healthy?
In a pilot study, researchers have reported that compared to their pre-trial microbiome, men who consumed either an alcoholic or a non-alcoholic lager on a daily basis had a more diverse set of microbes found in the gut, and with a healthy gut comes the lower chances of certain diseases.
There are trillions of microorganisms found in the human gastrointestinal tract. This has a direct impact on health and wellbeing. Studies have seen how when more types of bacteria are present, the host is unlikely to develop chronic diseases. Included here are heart disease and diabetes. As for beer, this drink contains compounds, such as polyphenols, as well as microorganisms that come from fermentation. This could actually have an effect on the types of microbes found in the gut.
There was a previously published “cross-over” study. This saw that when both male and female consume non-alcoholic lager beer for as long as 30 days, there was an increase in the gut microbiome diversity. That same group of people were also in another group. This time, the group drank an alcoholic version of the beer. It didn’t show the same effect.
To study this further, there were a few other clinical trials. The researchers tested out this issue. This time, Ana Faria and colleagues wanted to see if they would find similar results with men another kind of study, which is a parallel, randomized trial design. They had two separate groups of those who participated in it.
They did this double-blind study that consisted of 19 healthy men who were randomly divided into two groups. They consumed 11 fluid ounces of either alcoholic or non-alcoholic lager with dinner. This spanned for 4 weeks. The researchers saw how the participants’ weight, body mass index, and serum markers for heart health and metabolism didn’t see any changes during this time.
However, at the end of the 4-week period, both groups had greater bacterial diversity found in the gut microbiome. They also had higher levels of fecal alkaline phosphatase. This was indicative of an improvement in their intestinal wellbeing.
The researchers realize that there was a difference and this may suggest that the results could differ from those that came from the previous study for a variety of reasons, one of which was the trials design. It also may be because the participants had been living in different communities.
However, the researchers say that consuming one bottle of beer, never mind the content alcohol content, may actually be beneficial to the gut microbiome and intestinal health of men. This was based on the pilot study. If course, they also noted that the safest level of alcohol consumption is none. And, non-alcoholic beer may be a better choice.
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