According to a new study, having a “beer gut” might not be that bad for you. In fact, it turns out that a lager a day, regardless of whether it’s alcoholic or not, could be really good for your gut health.
The findings were published in the American Chemical Society’s Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry and shows that men who consume one lager of beer per day, have a more diverse colony of good gut microbes when compared to before the experiment began.
That being said, other older studies have also shown that a more robust microbiome in the gastrointestinal system contributes to lowering the risk of developing a variety of chronic issues including diabetes and heart disease.
Human beings have trillions of microorganisms in their gastrointestinal tracts which has a number of biological functions, one of the most important being immune defense.
Furthermore, another research also found, not too long ago, that your gut could even determine your personality!
Professor at Nova University in Lisbon, Portugal, and the lead author of this study, Ana Faria, told The Sun that “Results from this study show that drinking beer increases gut bacterial diversity without significantly changing body weight.”
Her team enlisted 19 male participants with ages between 23 and 58 to consume a 330-milliliter bottle of 5% Super Bock beer or swap it with the non-alcoholic version every day.
None of the participants experienced any health issues during the trial despite being regular drinkers.
It was rather surprising that even the alcoholic version of the beer was beneficial.
After all, too much alcohol can really affect the gut in terrible ways but in moderate amounts, it apparently does the opposite!
It appears that the fermentation process involved in beer making, which produces microorganisms as well, plus the fact that it also contains micronutrients like polyphenols, might just be the reasons why all of these male participants experienced great gut health throughout the trial.
Faria also shared that “Beer is the main and probably only source of hop polyphenols in the human diet. also contain xanthohumol, which studies suggest lowers the risk of chronic diseases including obesity and diabetes.”
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that men should consume less than two alcoholic drinks of any kind daily while women should drink half as much to be healthy.
