Beer is one of the oldest and third most widely consumed beverages after water and tea. It is brewed from cereal grains and it contains certain B vitamins, minerals, polyphenols, and fiber. Beer is an alcoholic drink and most alcoholic drinks are widely considered to be harmful to one’s health but recent studies have pointed to a rather different direction.  It was concluded in a study done by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism that if the beer is consumed in an appropriate amount then it is actually good for the individual’s health. The appropriate amount can be determined by one’s body mass but on an average one drink for women and two drinks for men per day were advised.

The health benefits ranges from lowering the risk of death to keeping the BMI in check but the key here is moderation. And the top 11 health benefits that have made the list are:

Beer for Women: 11 Surprising Health Benefits

It can protect your heart

The study has confirmed that women who tend to have a low-to-moderate intake of this alcoholic beverage tend to have a reduced risk of cardiovascular diseases; this same effect is also found in red wine. These two beverages achieve that effect by increasing serum levels of HDL, also known as good cholesterol, and decreasing platelet aggression in the blood.

A reduced risk of Death

I’m quite sure that everybody wants a long and fulfilling life and your beer might just help you attain that. In a review of twenty four studies it was found that the risk of all-cause mortality was higher in females who drank excessively or did not consumed beer at all while females who tend to have a moderate and steady intake of beer throughout their life tend to have a lower risk.

Reduce Risk of Stroke

Stroke is a sudden death of brain cell due to the lack of oxygen, caused by blockage of blood flow or rupture of an artery to the brain. It is quite a serious problem and your consumption of beer might just lower your risk of ever having a stroke by a whopping twenty to forty percent

Protection Against Type 2 Diabetes

Recent studies suggest that beer might increase insulin sensitivity, reduce basal insulin secretion rate, and lower fasting glucagon levels. By producing those effects in the person’s body that is regularly consuming beer it protects that person again type 2 diabetes

Protects your Joints

With so many health benefits this comes as no surprise that beer might protect you against arthritis. In a recent study it was found that women who had a few drinks per week for at least ten years had about half the risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis than women who didn’t drink at all or who consumed more than that

Keeps your Brain Sharp

Normally alcoholic beverages are correlated with a slow working neuron system and the brain but that is quite the contrary to what was found in the study, the only condition being that the beer consumed in moderate amount. Studies found various cognitive benefits for those who drank within their health limit and some of those benefits were reduced risk of Alzheimer’s, reduced risk of vascular dementia, improves memory retention and recall, and various others

Keeps your body in check

Another encouraging study found that women who drank moderately gained less weight and were less likely to become obese compared to women who did not drink at all or who drink too much. The study put on an interesting hypothesis that maybe the bodies of women who were long-term drinkers tend to somehow adapt their metabolism differently to alcohol than women who did not drink at all or who drank too much

Healthy Kidneys

A Finnish study found that women who tend to drink in the appropriate amount tend to have healthier kidneys than women who did not drink at all or those who drink too much, it also found that the healthy consumption of alcohol reduces the risk of developing kidney stones by a huge forty percent

Better Digestion

As I mentioned before that beer contains fibers which are extremely good for your body as they help in faster digestion of food that you consume. So beer, especially dark beer which contains more fibers, is extremely good for you in that department

Increases Vitamin B levels

A Dutch study found that women who tend to consume beer in the appropriate amount had thirty percent higher level of Vitamin B6 than women who did not consume beer at all and these levels were almost double than what were found in women who consumed wine. Beer contains Vitamin B1, Vitamin B2, Vitamin B6 and a generous helping of Vitamin B12 which is an anti-anemic factor not found in many foods

A healthier skin

Beer contains certain vitamins that helps in regenerating the skin and has a positive effect on pigmentation of the skin. It makes your skin glow and also prevents blood clots from occurring.

None of these researchers means to imply that you should start consuming beer right now for the health benefits especially if you already don’t. According to US Dietary Guidelines, there are some groups of people who should not drink at all like women who are pregnant, individuals with certain medical conditions, individuals who are on some kind of medication that might have a bad reaction with alcohol, people who are under the legal drinking age of their nation, those who have a hard time restricting their drinking, or those suffering from some kind of addiction. Furthermore various health professionals and scientists cannot say anything with hundred percent certainties when it comes to this topic so your best bet would be to consume your alcoholic beverages in a moderate quantity and not get carried away even though you might now have all these health benefits to look out for.