Drinking Beer Can Help Prevent Stroke And Heart Disease

It is common for people to have a bottle of beer to relax after a long day at work. A new research has found that drinking a pint of beer a day could help lower the risk of having a stroke or developing cardiovascular diseases.

According to The Independent, moderate consumption of alcohol, particularly beer, was added to provide to a slower drop in high-density lipoprotein (HDL), or 'good cholesterol' in a study by researchers at Pennsylvania State University.

As many may have already known, HDL helps get rid of the 'bad cholesterol' or the low-density lipoprotein (LDL) from the arteries. Experts have said that blood vessels with accumulated levels of LDL can increase the risk of cardiovascular problems and stroke. However, increased HDL in the body can prevent large amounts of LD from accumulating.

The study combines a significant number of others suggesting the positive effects of alcohol on health, some of which draw conclusions opposite to each other. For the study, researchers examined 80,000 healthy adults in China and found that the natural decline in high-density lipoprotein (HDL), or the "good" cholesterol, in the body was delayed by a moderate intake of alcohol.

However, the research showed at an American Heart Association conference, one or two servings per day for a man or up to one for a woman was directly connected with a slower HDL decline than either not drinking at all, or drinking too much. Although the trend applied to both beer and spirits, the effect was most visible for drinkers of beer, the Pennsylvania State University study found.

It is important to note that current U.K. government recommends that both men and women should not drink more than 14 units of alcohol each week, the equivalent of six pints of average strength beer. According to The Telegraph, the previous guidelines, ditched in January this year, advised a limit of 21 units for men and 14 for women.

However, the scientists said that more studies were needed to determine whether the alcohol-HDL association applied to non-Chinese populations.