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The Health Benefits of Beer 

 

Each year more and more studies are being done on the health benefits of beer. While red wine drinkers have been bragging for some time about the benefits of their choice of alcohol, it now seems that beer drinkers will finally get their turn in the spotlight. It is now proven that moderate alcohol consumption is good for heart health, no matter whether you drink beer or wine.

 

The good news is that moderately consuming alcohol is beneficial for your heart. Moderate drinkers lessen their risk of heart attacks and heart disease, compared to people who don’t drink at all or those who are heavy drinkers. For equal amounts of alcohol, beer has double the antioxidants of white wine, and the antioxidants may be able to be absorbed by the body quicker than those of red wine. Beer contains neither fat nor cholesterol.

 

Moderate consumption of alcohol is defined as two drinks a day for men and one drink each day for women. Moderate drinkers lowered their risk of heart disease by from between thirty and sixty percent even those who were considered high risk because of a previous heart attack, heart disease, or diabetes. In other studies, beer helped people build bone mass. This is thought to be because of beer’s silicon content.

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How to Match Beer and Food

 

Today with all of the focus on local microbreweries and people becoming more quality conscious about beers, there are new efforts afloat to match foods and beers in ways that they can complement one another. It is no longer just about having a beer with a steak and salad, chicken wings, or pizza. Today people are trying to pair foods and beers in such a way that there is a new harmony between the two.

 

In order to match foods and beers successfully, it is necessary to figure out what the strengths are of both the food and the beer that might lend themselves to one another. Some of the things to consider are how light dishes and light beers work together. Not light as lightweight or as in having less substance, but light as in delicately flavored. For instance, perhaps a pale ale might work with a food such as a salad.

 

Foods with strong flavors such as dishes with onions or sausage should be paired with stronger tasting beers and ales. You would need to consider such characteristics or qualities as sweetness and bitterness, highly carbonated or lightly carbonated, the character of  the malt, and the richness of the flavors when successfully matching beers and foods. A good example is how a German lager with rich flavor might go well with a dinner of roast pork.