Beer: A Superfood
The Health Benefits of Beer
Beer May Help You Live Longer
Bob Slavonic, 102 years old, says drinking Coors Light regularly
has helped him to live a long, healthy life.
Photo from FoxNews.com.
A doctor walks into his consultation room and sits down at his computer. He reviews the information he has received from this current client's annual physical. He turns to the patient and, in a matter-of-fact way, delivers the results of the physical:
"Technically, your cholesterol is high. But, your HDLs far outweigh your LDLs. Therefore, with no other signs of any problems anywhere else in your annual physical, you are in perfect health!"
"Is there anything I should do to improve my vitals? I drink a few beers per day. If I stopped drinking, would my cholesterol improve?" The patient asked his question with sincere concern.
"Absolutely not!" The doctor fired back emphatically. "Cholesterol is needed for the production of hormones. You have high cholesterol, but your total cholesterol is not the important factor. What is important is that you have a high number of HDL cholesterol, the good cholesterol. So all that means is that you're in great health and you have a sufficient amount of cholesterol to keep your body producing all the hormones needed to promote very good health."
This exchange actually took place during my own annual physical. I knew that what the doctor was saying was true. It's a common misconception that "steroids" are bad for your heart. In fact, testosterone is a key player in keeping your cardiovascular system healthy, pliable, and running efficiently.
Without sufficient cholesterol, people suffer from many very serious problems which can actually cause chronic and severe illnesses and even premature death. Beer can actually promote healthy levels of HDLs, which help get rid of LDLs, which ultimately keeps your cardiovascular system running cleanly while still not depriving the body of what it needs to produce balanced hormones in healthy amounts.
Beer Drinking Centenarians
Richard A. Overton, 109 years old
If you heard that a man's daily habit was to smoke 12 cigars a day, drink 4 cups of coffee in the morning, and eat ice cream every night, what would you assume his health and longevity would be like?
Many people would think that such a man would be constantly suffering from major maladies and would be dead before he turned 50.
Actually, according to a video about Richard A. Overton, this WWII veteran was 109 years old at the time of recording. He died at 112 years of age. Overton had one other "unhealthy" habit:
He drank beer on a daily basis.
You might think Mr. Overton is a special case and has some genes that magically prevent him from getting sick or dying despite chronically practicing habits that people readily call hazardous to one's health. But, there are actually several people who have been recognized for their longevity even though they mention having at least one dietary habit that most people would assume to be unhealthy.
Antoinette Inserra, 104. Photo Courtesy of Phyllis Scotto
Antoinette Inserra was 104 years old when she was interviewed by Today.com about her longevity. One key factor that she mentioned was that she drank beer on a regular basis. She is also quoted as saying, "I love my beer."
Photo from @WIS10 on Twitter
Mildred Bowers, at 102 years old, stated that drinking beer at 4:00 PM sharp every day was a key to her longevity.
Photo By Amy Newman, found on DailyMail.co.uk
Agnes Fenton was 110 when she credited drinking 3 Miller High Lifes and a shot of Johnnie Walker Blue Label each day as being the reason for her longevity.
The list continues forever. If you go to Google and search for people who credit beer with the reason for their longevity, you'll end up with pages and pages of results of centenarians mentioning how they think beer has helped them live to such a long age.
In the world of ancient medicine, this would be enough to cause holistic healers to start prescribing a regimen of moderate beer intake to anyone who was striving to live a long life. But, what are the empirical facts on the subject?
How Beer Promotes Longevity
Margaret Dilullo, 106 years old.
Photo from @Yuenglingbeer on Twitter
Thankfully, some research has been done on this subject, and it is found that the link between longevity and the regular consumption of beer is legitimate. Beer promotes good health and longevity in many ways, including the following:
- According to professor of brewing sciences, Charlie Bamforth at the University of California, Davis, beer is actually superior in its health benefits to wine in regard to the fact that beer provides more niacin, folate, phosphorus, and B vitamins.
- Some of Professor Bamforth's research also mentions that beer can provide the gut with beneficial prebiotics.
- Drinking beer 3 to 4 times per week can help prevent diabetes, suggest the findings of a study presented in the Journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes.
- Moderate drinking may slow the decline of HDLs, according to a study presented at The American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2016.
- Beer may protect the brain from cognitive decline as a result of being a good source of dietary silicon (Martin).
- Hops have anti-inflammatory properties, according to a paper published in Molecular Nutrition & Food Research.
- Seniors who abstained from alcohol were 200% more likely to die than moderate drinkers in a span of 20 years. Heavy drinkers only had a mortality risk of 70%, and moderate drinkers had a mortality risk of just 23%.
- In essence, moderate drinkers late in life had the longest life expectancy (Charles J. Holahan, et al).
- Beer can have as many antioxidants as wine while also providing more protein and B Vitamins (Infinita Biotech).
- Moderate consumption of beer can reduce the risk of cancer (PubMed).
- Beer may help to prevent kidney stones (Infinita Biotech).
- Consuming beer moderately can prevent the growth of cataracts (Infinita Biotech).
- According to a study published on Science Direct, study participants with a BAC of 0.075 (approximately 2 drinks within an hour) were able to solve puzzles faster than the sober participants.
Which Beers Are the Best For Your Health?
If you click on the links that I've provided to any of the articles about the centenarians or if you look up your own article on centenarians who attribute their longevity to drinking beer, you'll find that there is a wide variety of beers and even hard liquors that they consume on a regular basis. But, scientifically, if you're aiming for a beer that ranks high in healthy nutrients such as flavonoids, then you're probably aiming for a dark beer. For example, based on that criteria, you could say that Guinness is good for you.
A simple thing to aim for, if you want to select beer high in antioxidants and other beneficial things, is looking for stouts, ports, and extra hoppy beers. Many of these are DIPAs and IPAs.
Real-Life Experiences With the Health Benefits of Beer
Models: Mary Katelyn Rose and Donny Podcast
Being My Own Guinea Pig
As you have read at the top of this post, I had a doctor tell me that he does not recommend that I abstain from drinking since my health was perfect and my HDLs were significantly higher than my LDLs. In addition, my doctor also told me that of all of his patients in their 90s who drink beer on a regular basis, none of them has a significant health concern and he would not recommend that they change anything about what they're doing.
In the spirit of science, I disobeyed my doctor's advice just to see what effect it would have if I entirely abstained from drinking alcohol for 3 consecutive months before my next annual physical. The next year came around, and I didn't have a single sip of alcohol for 3 straight months leading up to my annual physical. I even changed my diet to a very strict, clean diet that was mostly vegetables with some lean meats on the side. The result was that I still had high cholesterol, but this time my LDLs were actually higher than my HDLs. In addition, they had me come back for a second test because they thought they were seeing signs that my kidneys were starting to go into decline.
My doctor actually mentioned to me that it was so strange that my labs were starting to show some concerning signs because I'd never had any problems ever before. To remedy this, I went back to eating an actual healthy diet and consuming moderate amounts of beer on a regular basis. The diet I returned to was one close to the Paleo diet, which I reference in my post regarding how to build muscle efficiently.
Amy's Story
In an article I've written about how patience, consistent work, and maintaining a high vibration can improve every aspect of your life, I mentioned several real-world and even famous examples of how people rose up to success after starting from the bottom. In the near future, I intend to write another post specifically about raising your vibrations because I once had no other choice but to live in subsidized housing. My life has improved and I believe it's largely due to maintaining high vibrations and manifesting a better life for myself.
While I was living in this very rough area of the city, I got to know several of my neighbors. My next-door neighbors were an entire family of 3 generations of people living off one man's paycheck. His wife was a woman named Amy. Amy's family had a very old-fashioned way of doing things. Amy was expected to stay at home and do everything to take care of the house while the only person earning any money would be her husband.
I thought Amy was probably an alcoholic. I rarely met her when she wasn't buzzed with a beer in her hand. One day when we were talking, she mentioned that she was having a procedure done to help her get rid of kidney stones. That's also when she mentioned to me that her doctor recommended that she maintains a regular intake of moderate beer consumption to help her prevent any more kidney stones. Then, Amy proceeded to show me some literature that she was given that explains how moderate beer drinking can prevent renal problems.
Per, the Army Ranger
At one point in my life, I was in a very rigorous physical training program that was comparable to triathlon training, except that it also incorporated heavy lifting and short, intense physical challenges. One man I met in that class was a guy named Per. Per was built like a fitness model; he had low body fat and a lot of muscle mass. That man was strong, fast, and even had the endurance for long-distance running.
One day, people in the class who aspired to be more like Per asked what he did to recover from 5k races. Per responded that he drinks a 6 pack of beer after a good workout. He went on to mention that he regularly drinks a few beers on nearly a daily basis. People were in disbelief. They thought to achieve a physique and athletic prowess such as his, he'd have to eat a very disciplined and difficult diet and practically live in the gym.
Fortunately, as I wrote in my post about building muscle quickly and easily, science has come a long way in regard to understanding how our bodies work. And, contrary to popular belief, building muscle requires far less time and effort than the mainstream teachings of the world would lead you to believe.
As is evident in this blog post, we have come a long way in understanding the nuances of what is good and bad in regard to our diet. Alcohol consumption isn't automatically bad for you. In fact, many things that are commonly parroted across the media and throughout fitness groups are false and often solely designed to drive sales.
If you want to learn the straight facts about all subjects of holistic wellness, whether it be spirituality, physical fitness, financial fitness, or taking care of the planet that nourishes us, follow this blog. Once you push all the world's ads, marketing, and political agendas aside, you'll find that the path to your holistic wellness goals is so much simpler than what many people make it out to be.
My goal for everything I publish on holistic wellness is to help people see the truth to prevent them from wasting time, money, and energy on following schemes that only get in the way of their goals. Most importantly, being educated on the facts of these matters can prevent people from harming themselves by unknowingly following health advice that is actually bad for them.
On that note, always remember that nothing I publish is meant to be taken as medical advice. Only your doctor can give you the best advice for you in regard to your health.
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