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Beer Found to be as Healthy as Wine

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the also-found-to-be-delicious dept.

Matt Clare writes "Researchers at the University of Western Ontario (Canada) recently found that beer has the same positive qualities that wine has previously been found to have. The media release quotes professor John Trevithick, 'We were very surprised one drink of beer or stout contributed an equal amount of antioxidant benefit as wine, especially since red wine contains about 20 times the amount of polyphenols as beer.' For more info on how beer helps police harmful free radicals in blood, The London Free Press also has an article."

8 of 517 comments (clear)

  1. Interesting.... by mentalflossboy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    And yet, you never hear about a "wine belly."

    --
    "I make people like me... WITH VIOLENCE!" - ATHF
    1. Re:Interesting.... by mentalflossboy · · Score: 4, Insightful
      Good lord, man, what kind of beer are you drinking? A decent beer costs at least 7 or 8 bucks for a six pack. And you can get "decent" bottles of wine for that much at Trader Joes.

      I don't think cost is the issue in the beer/wine debate. It's a lifestyle difference. Wine drinkers will have a glass with dinner. Beer drinkers chug a six pack watching the game on Saturday.

      --
      "I make people like me... WITH VIOLENCE!" - ATHF
    2. Re:Interesting.... by dlbowm · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The problem with your argument is, the people who chug a six pack on the couch also don't buy $8 beer. They are quite possibly in the $4 camp.

      I think the people who buy $8 beer are likely to just drink a glass with dinner, as a replacement for wine. I believe a good beer can be just as good an accompaniment as wine. Just depends on the food, or your mood.

  2. I love beer but.. by RobPiano · · Score: 3, Insightful


    I think the reason wine drinkers are healthier than beer drinkers remains consistent. Wine has fewer calories, so you don't get as fat. As a general rule, wine drinkers have healthier weights than beer drinkers.

  3. Re:Cheers! by yintercept · · Score: 5, Insightful
    There is a God!

    And like God, beer can be healthy if you don't over do it.

  4. Reality check by drmike0099 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This article should be taken with a grain of salt. First of all, it's about as minor a medical discovery as you could find, in terms of potential impact of the study, where it was published, etc. (makes me wonder if the submitter was an author). There was a massive article on a similar topic in the New England Journal of Medicine last year, which actually studied actual humans and their actual outcomes (link here) that didn't make it onto slashdot, and proved essentially the same thing. This is just talking about a lab proof about antioxidants, which are currently only one theory as to why alcohol is good for you. In other words, this is nice to know, but doesn't prove anything we didn't already know.

  5. Re:I think I speak for all of us ... by LBArrettAnderson · · Score: 3, Insightful

    no, you speak for the normal people. The intelligent people are asking "but what negative effects cancel out the positive ones?"

    It only mentions "positive" qualities.

  6. Re:I think I speak for all of us ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful
    The intelligent people are asking "but what negative effects cancel out the positive ones?"

    Really? I thought they already knew that one or two drinks a day is positive, but more are not. I don't see how this changes anything (except what to drink). I've never heard of a single study showing that two drinks a day is bad for anyone without specific contradictions (mostly liver related).