Beer Might Actually Be Good For You – Part II

It’s no secret that beer just keeps getting better and better. And since we find ourselves drinking more and more of it – we were heartened to learn that it might also be good for you. As we wrote yesterday, a UK-based newspaper recently ran a fun piece hailing beer’s health benefits and it was so encouraging that we started drinking immediately upon reading it. It also contained so much good news that we decided to break up our discussion of beer’s newfound benefits into two parts.

So welcome to Part II of our ongoing discussion on How Beer Might Actually Be Good For You. And if you haven’t already read Part I – well, we’re pissed at you.

Yesterday, we hit on how beer is full of all kinds of vitamins and important minerals – and about how it’s low in those damnable sugars and full of healthful fiber. But who knew that it was also good for your skin, could heighten your sexual prowess in bed, and might even help ward off Alzheimer’s disease?

Beer’s a Beauty Aid

Evidently beer can make you more beautiful. “Beer drinkers also get skin-boosting benefits,” according to The Daily Mail’s Laura Bond. You see, the barley used to brew beer “isrich in ferulic acid, a potent antioxidant shown to protect skin from sun damage.”

Plus it’s good for your hair. There are all kinds of shampoos out there now that use beer as a key ingredient. Movie stars such as Catherine Zeta-Jones use it as conditioner, and Ms. Bond reports that that’s just one way that beer can make your hair look healthier:

“The hops in beer contain silica which adds luster, increases volume and fortifies the hair from within,’ says Janey Lee Grace, author of Look Great Naturally… Without Ditching The Lipstick. To condition the hair using beer, she recommends first boiling the liquid to remove alcohol, which can strip hair of natural oils, then mixing it with extra virgin coconut oil.

Beer Boosts Your Libido

While we were not at all surprised by this finding, we were super excited to learn why beer sometimes makes us feel “frisky.” Turns out, it’s the hops that help get you in the mood. Bond asks a doctor to help us understand why:

Hops are a wonderful relaxant,” says Dr Marion Gluck, an expert in hormonal imbalances. “And you don’t need much to get the benefits,” she adds. Research shows that the phytoestrogen from hops – oestrogen-like compounds found in plant foods – may help reduce hot flushes, low libido and other symptoms associated with menopause.

Beer Helps You Ward off Mental Deterioration

Although beer can rightfully be blamed for more than its share of evenings that you can’t (and probably best not) remember, it’s now being thought to help prevent Alzheimer’s disease. The disease is sometimes associated with high levels of aluminum in the body, and Bond details research that explains how drinking beer helps with that:

A 2008 study published in the journal Food and Chemical Toxicology found that silicon was able to reduce aluminum uptake in the digestive tract and slow the accumulation of the metal in the body and brain tissue. But beware of overdoing it: a University College London study warned that men drinking more than two pints a day could suffer memory loss.

Beer – Health’s Future

With every passing day, we are learning more about the wonderful benefits that come from drinking beer. Once seen as just another hedonistic pleasure, drinking beer is fast emerging as essential to maintaining one’s health and we’re excited about that. Finally, drinking beer is being recognized for what it is – an essential health discipline – something to be admired and promoted by any forward-thinking society.

Hey we’re no longer just a bunch of drunks – we’re health’s future.

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