Beer is good for you

<editor's note>
The folks at the Real Beer Page are concerned about your health. They report 
on the latest scientific studies……
</editor's note>

BEER IS GOOD FOR YOU: PART I
A study showing a beer a day may help keep heart attacks away adds to 
growing evidence that moderate alcohol consumption may reduce heart 
disease. Israeli researchers found that drinking one beer (12 ounces) a 
day triggered changes in blood chemistry that are associated with a 
reduced risk of heart attack. Following beer drinking, participants in 
the study were found to have decreased cholesterol levels, increased 
antioxidants and reduced levels of fibrinogen -- a clot-producing 
protein. During the study a total of 48 men aged 46 to 72 with coronary 
heart disease were divided into two groups of 24. Individuals in one 
group drank one bottle of beer a day for 30 consecutive days while the 
others drank mineral water. Both groups ate a similar diet, rich in 
fruits and vegetables, during this period. In 21 out of the 24 patients 
in the beer-drinking group, the researchers found positive changes in 
blood chemicals that are associated, on the evidence of previous 
studies, with a decreased heart-attack risk. The study, published in 
the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry this month, also shows 
for the first time that drinking alcoholic beverages causes structural 
changes in fibrinogen that make the clotting protein less active.

BEER IS GOOD FOR YOU: PART II
Drinking alcohol at least three or four days a week appears to protect 
men from heart attacks, according to a study published in the New 
England Journal of Medicine. Other studies have found that moderate 
amounts of alcohol appear to protect the heart. But this is the first 
to suggest that it is the frequency of drinking - not the amount or 
type of alcohol - that appears to reduce the risk of heart attacks in 
men, according to the lead author, Dr. Kenneth Mukamal at Beth Israel 
Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. The study, which followed 38,077 
male health professionals ages 40-75 for 12 years, found those who 
drank moderate amounts of alcohol three or more times a week had up to 
a 37% reduction in the risk of heart attacks compared to nondrinkers. 
But Mukamal cautioned that the study was not a license to consume 
excessive amounts of liquor or ignore healthy lifestyle choices. "The 
current alcohol recommendation is no more than two drinks a day (for 
men). There's nothing in our study that says otherwise," Mukamal said.

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