Cheers for Beers!

Bite This: The US was the second leading country in worldwide beer production in 2014. China was number one.

Today is National Drink Beer Day! Crazy that there’s a day for this, right?  It’s slightly ironic that I learned about this day on Eatright.org which is the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics website. When is National Drink Wine day?

Let’s have a beer and chat about the health benefits! Yes, alcohol and beer do have nutritional benefits just like wine. In fact, beer contains more protein and B-vitamins than wine. Drinking moderately has been shown to decrease all-cause mortality, especially from cardiovascular disease.

So what is beer? The main ingredients are barley, hops, yeast and water.  Barley is a great source of vitamins and minerals including niacin which can help protect against cardiac risk factors.

Hops is the real show stopper here. It contains many polyphenols and antioxidants. In fact, the

source

antioxidant content of beer is equivalent to that of wine (although they contain different types of antioxidants). Antioxidants in hops have been shown to help decrease dementia, protect against cancer, and prevent cardiovascular disease. One antioxidant of particular interest right now is xanthohumol which has been studied for anti-cancer effects.

Now, don’t go crazy with this statement – moderate drinking is 1 drink/day for women and 2 drinks/day for men. (One drink equals 12 ounces of beer, 6 ounces of wine, or 1.5 ounces of liquor.) Remember moderation, people! And drink responsibly.

Mmm…looking forward to the day when it is socially acceptable for me to have a beer again in public.

What is your favorite kind of beer?

I especially love this time of year for beer – Octoberfest and pumpkin beers are my fav!

Sound bite: Drink a beer today for National Drink Beer Day!