Why Beer is Good for You?
What is Beer?
If we talk about beverages, fortunately, beer is most loved. When it is a little complicated to define what exactly beer is, for every beer lover the definition is different. The basic formula will remain the same, beer is the part of alcohol. The fermented and alcoholic product, beer is a combination of water, malt, hops, and yeast.
How is beer made?
The cycle of beer begins with the great ingredients, getting started with grains first, and depends upon the recipe or style. A variety of malts and grains can also be used.
Whole grains are put through a gristmill to cracks and open kernels. Those cracked grains are transported to the mash tun, where they are mixed with hot (upwards of 155°F) water. During this process, naturally occurring sugars in the grain are released, which will later help create alcohol.
Substance like thick oatmeal called mash will be the result. It has a starch-like consistency and a sweet taste. The wort is collected from the mash tun and transferred to a kettle for boiling.
While in the brew kettle the wort is brought to a boil for around 90 minutes. During this process, hops are added at different intervals to extract aroma, flavor, and bitterness. Depends on the recipes that dictate when hops are added, affecting the final result.
When the boil is complete, the wort is transferred through a heat exchanger to rapidly cool it and then pumped into a fermentation vessel. Fermentation vessels are either horizontal tanks or conical fermenters, which stand upright. After fermentation, some beers are filtered or run through a centrifuge.
When it is ready to be packaged in kegs, cans, or bottles, beer gets a healthy dose of additional CO2 for some extra fizz.
Basic Nutrition
Standard beer Light Beer
Calories 153 103
Protein 1.6 grams 0.9 grams
Fat 0 grams 0 grams
Carbs 13 grams 6 grams
Niacin 9% of the Daily Value (DV) 9% of the DV
Riboflavin 7% of the DV 7% of the DV
Choline 7% of the DV 6% of the DV
Folate 5% of the DV 5% of the DV
Magnesium 5% of the DV 4% of the DV
Phosphorus 4% of the DV 3% of the DV
Selenium 4% of the DV 3% of the DV
Vitamin B12 3% of the DV 3% of the DV
Pantothenic acid 3% of the DV 2% of the DV
Alcohol 13.9 grams 11 grams
Both standard and light beer contain small amounts of potassium, thiamine, iron, calcium, and zinc. The best beer is made from cereal grains and yeast, with Vitamin B and minerals. Light beer is slightly less alcoholic and has around two-thirds of the calories of regular beer.
Beer health benefits
After a few happy beers, we feel a little bleary-eyed and which is pretty common. A study examined that the effects of non-alcoholic beer that contains hops have decreased anxiety and provides better sleep. Beer and hops are considered to be great ingredients for skincare. The properties of anti-anxiety and anti-inflammatory help in skincare.
1. Benefit your heart
Beer is good for you as beer is virtually fat and fiber-free, contains protein, carbohydrate, potassium, Vitamin B, and magnesium. It also includes folic acid, which reduces homocysteine in the blood. High homocysteine increases the risk factor of heart increase. Beer contains antioxidants and melanoidins compounds, formed when barley or malt is heated. Phenolic which is similar to antioxidants found in red wine. One of the most important alterations caused by regular alcohol consumption, increase in the level of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol.
Your daily glass of beer might do well to your heart, may protect your heart from disease. But you should limit it, drinking to excess can increase the risk of heart problems. These include sudden heart death, heart failure, and stroke.
2. Improve blood sugar control
Blood glucose, also known as blood sugar, is sugar that’s carried to the cells through the bloodstream. Blood sugar generally refers to the concentration of sugar in your blood at a specific time.
With sugar and alcohol, blood sugar can increase rapidly to a dangerous point. This occurs because sugar is high in alcohol, causing an initial rapid rise. Your body’s insulin system releases insulin to bring this high sugar level down and inhibits the release of more sugar from the liver. This directly causes your blood sugar to spike, followed by a decrease. This can lead to hypoglycemia when you are using insulin or other diabetes medications.
3. Prevent kidney stones
Potentially drinking beer is associated with kidney stones, it reduces the risk of developing kidney stones. People who drink moderate amounts of beer could potentially reduce their risk of developing a stone by 41%. Beers that contain a lot of hop-derived phytochemicals are rich in kidney health-promoting phytochemicals.
4. lowers bad cholesterol
The elaborated fiber in beer can help reduce your LDL or “bad” cholesterol. Increasing your intake of wholesome fibre has numerous health benefits, including the promotion of healthy blood sugar and blood cholesterol levels. Alcohol interferes with the body’s ability to absorb vitamins and minerals, so alcoholic beverages can also decrease the body’s ability to burn stored fat.
5. Strengthens your bones
Beer is high in silicon, which may be important for building bones, helps in maintaining healthy bones. Beer has minerals such as, orthosilicic acid which helps in the metabolism of your body. Beers with lots of malted barley and hops are considered to be the best beer and source of silicon.
6. Reduce stress
Researchers found that two glasses of beer a day can improve mental health, but cutting down on alcohol consumption can do more harm than good. It has long been accepted that alcohol can help with stress reduction at the moment, but in the long run it can contribute to feelings of depression and anxiety, making stress harder to deal with.
7. Improve Brain Cells
Hops have a potent ingredient that can help improve cognitive function – xanthohumol. It helps slow down the degradation process of memory. The chemical used in this study could help protect brain cells against oxidative damage associated with dementia, which could lead to the development of new treatments.
8. Cognitive function
People who drink a moderate amount of alcohol, but in moderation, did better over time, with slight improvements, and better function, as their alcohol consumption increase cognitive function.
9. Chill your mood
Moderate alcohol consumption may help reduce the negative effects of social interaction. However, your health is important, and you should not consume alcohol if you are not of the legal drinking age.
10. Reduce Risk of Death
Alcohol is likely to help you live longer, without any harmful effects. Studies show that light and moderate drinking may cut the risk of premature death, especially in Western societies. Alcohol abuse is a large factor in chronic diseases, accidents, traffic crashes, and social problems.
11. Plenty of B vitamins
Alcoholic beverages, especially unfiltered or lightly filtered alcoholic beverages, turn out to be quite nutritious, despite the years of suppression of those facts by various anti-alcohol groups. Alcoholic beverages have high levels of B vitamins, particularly folic acid, which is believed to help prevent heart attacks. Beer is slippery and helps you stay healthy. It contains soluble fiber, which reduces the likelihood that your body absorbs unhealthy junk. Beer also boasts significant levels of magnesium and potassium, in case you were planning on plating your gut.
Which Type of Alcoholic Beverage Is Best?
Alcoholic beverages can be beneficial, depending on the type and amount consumed. For example, red wine is higher in antioxidants than any other alcoholic beverage.
Drinking heavily does not provide health benefits. Heavy drinking causes health problems, regardless of the type of beverage.
Who should avoid beer?
One must not forget that beer does contain some amount of alcohol. People dealing with certain health conditions should not consume beer.
- Pregnant or breastfeed
- Suffering from Gout
- Insomnia
- liver complications
- Stomach ulcer or resistance heartburn
Though beer contains a small number of micronutrients, you need to drink a massive amount of beer to reach your daily nutrient requirements.
Drinking moderate amounts is linked to various health benefits. However, alcohol abuse and alcohol addiction are linked to substantial negative effects on physical and mental health.
If you appreciate alcohol and do not binge, there is no compelling reason to avoid it. Just keep in mind that your cancer risk may increase — regardless of how much you are drinking. However, if you tend to drink excessively or notice that alcohol causes problems in your life, you should avoid it as much as possible.
Drinking alcohol has a wide range of impacts on different people. At the end of the day, the beer becomes more like a supplement, less like a treatment.
