When making beer, the water is cooked first to enable the enzymes to chop the carbohydrates of the malt starch into fermentable sugars and carbohydrates. Boiling the water also kills all germs, and makes the water potable again.
If you’re someplace where you are advised not to drink the water, the local beer is always a safer bet. It’s even safer than the local bottled water. Beer is boiled in the brewing process and is kept clean afterwards right through the bottle being capped and sealed, because if it isn’t, it goes bad in obvious ways that make it impossible to sell. Even if it does go bad, though, there are no life-threatening bacteria bacteria (pathogens) that can live in beer. So drink up – even bad beer is safer than water.
Beer is used for preventing diseases of the heart and circulatory system, including coronary heart disease, “hardening of the arteries” (atherosclerosis), heart failure, heart attack, and stroke. It is also used to reduce the chance of death from heart attack and from another heart condition called ischemic left ventricular (LV) dysfunction.
- Drinking alcoholic beverages, including beer, by healthy people seems to reduce the risk of developing heart disease. Moderate alcohol use (one to two drinks per day) reduces the risk of coronary heart disease, atherosclerosis, and heart attack by approximately 30% to 50% when compared with nondrinkers.
- Light to moderate alcohol (one to two drinks per day) use reduces the risk of having the type of stroke that is caused by a clot in the blood vessel (ischemic stroke), but increases the risk of having the type of stroke caused by a broken blood vessel (hemorrhagic stroke).
Potential Health Benefits of Beer
As mentioned, beer is a rich source of vitamins and minerals, and some also contain antioxidants. Research supports a number of potential health benefits to drinking moderate amounts of beer:
Lower Risk of Heart Disease
Several reviews have suggested that consuming one to two beers a day may help lower your risk of heart disease. In fact, beer may be as effective at improving general heart health as wine at comparable alcohol levels.
Increased Bone Strength
Early research suggests that moderate amounts of beer may help strengthen bones for men and postmenopausal women. This may be because alcohol in general, in moderate amounts, can help your bones. But this benefit sharply drops when consumption passes two drinks a day, so moderation is key.
Side Effects
Beer is LIKELY SAFE for most people when used in moderation. This translates to two or fewer 12 ounce glasses a day. Drinking more than this at one sitting is POSSIBLY UNSAFE and can cause a lot of side effects, including: flushing, confusion, trouble controlling emotions, blackouts, loss of coordination, seizures, drowsiness, trouble breathing, hypothermia, low blood sugar, vomiting, diarrhea, bleeding, irregular heartbeat, and others.
Long-term use can lead to alcohol dependence and can cause many serious side effects, including: malnutrition, memory loss, mental problems, heart problems, liver failure, swelling (inflammation) of the pancreas, cancers of the digestive track, and others.