{"id":424,"date":"2013-12-06T21:06:25","date_gmt":"2013-12-06T21:06:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beer-syndicate.com\/blog\/?p=424"},"modified":"2016-12-14T16:12:49","modified_gmt":"2016-12-14T16:12:49","slug":"beer-health-vol-1-beer-blood-and-women","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beersyndicate.com\/blog\/beer-health-vol-1-beer-blood-and-women\/","title":{"rendered":"Beer Health, Vol. 1- Beer, Blood and Women"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Hey ladies!”<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

-Beastie Boys<\/span><\/p>\n

We all know that drinking beer makes you a better person, but did you also know that beer can make you live forever?<\/em>\u00a0 Well, it probably can\u2019t [research pending], but it turns out beer may be healthier for you than you thought. \u00a0(See, you were right about drinking all these years.)<\/span><\/p>\n

As if you needed even more reasons to drink beer, this series of articles about beer and health takes a look at some of the science behind why a beer a day really\u00a0can<\/em>\u00a0keep the doctor away. \u00a0And to kick things off, we’ll be digging into what may have been the first woman-centric study that focused on providing evidence for whether beer, wine or liquor is most beneficial to women.<\/span><\/p>\n

(Hmmm, I wonder which alcoholic beverage will come out on top…)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

In 2002, Harvard (the school) released a beverage-specific\u00a0study<\/span><\/a><\/span>\u00a0that compared the effects of beer, wine and liquor with respect to blood pressure in women.\u00a0 The results of this\u00a0study\u00a0of nearly 71,000 women showed that the consumption of beer<\/em> (more so than wine or liquor) helped reduce the risk of hypertension, a.k.a. high blood pressure.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe did find that light-beer drinking [1 drink or less per day on average] was protective against chronic hypertension. Cross-sectional data from Japan also suggest a protective blood pressure effect among exclusive beer drinking compared with drinking other beverages.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That\u2019s right, when it comes to blood health, beer beat out wine and hard liquor, and now there’s the science to prove it. \u00a0In fairness though, having at least\u00a0some <\/i>ethyl-alcoholic beverage on a daily basis (beer, wine or the old hoocharino) was shown to reduce the risk of hypertension more so than with those who didn’t drink at all.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAmong women who consumed on average 0.26 to 0.50 drink per day, the risk of developing hypertension was lower by 14% compared with nondrinkers.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Take that, teetotalers!<\/span><\/p>\n

Ok, there is one caveat: the risk of high blood pressure among women tended to increase with over 1 drink\u00a0<\/span>on average<\/i>\u00a0per day, no matter the type of alcoholic beverage.\u00a0 The workaround?\u00a0 Simple: Rollover drinks. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Didn’t\u00a0have a drink on Monday?\u00a0 Just roll that thang over to Tuesday.\u00a0 No drink on Tuesday?\u00a0 You\u2019re slackin\u2019, but not to worry, humpday equals triple-fisting day.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m sorta half-joking, but the Harvard study actually did<\/em> look at \u201cepisodic drinking\u201d as well, and found that women who consumed \u201cat least 12 drinks over 1 to 3 days\u2026 were not at increased risk of chronic hypertension.\u201d \u00a0However, risk \u201cwas increased among women who drank more than 1.5 drinks per day for at least 5 days per week\u201d.\u00a0 Translation: the occasional binge doesn’t appear to rocket your blood pressure; it\u2019s the\u00a0<\/span>consistent\u00a0<\/i>excess that\u2019ll get ya.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

So why all the fuss about blood pressure?<\/em>\u00a0 Well, according to WebMD—\u00a0the most authoritative source for medical information outside of Wikipedia— high blood pressure can lead to stroke and heart dis-ease, and turns out that\u00a0stress<\/i>\u00a0is a major cause of\u00a0hypertension.<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s where booze comes in.<\/span><\/p>\n

Alcohol (ethanol) is a relaxant. \u00a0A mood lightener. \u00a0A\u00a0worry reducer.\u00a0 And it appears that beer has even greater hypertension preventing powers than that of wine or liquor.\u00a0 So the take away seems to be that it\u2019s OK to have a drink (better yet,\u00a0research suggests that it\u2019s actually healthy for you),\u00a0but know your healthy limits, which for the ladies appears to be an average of one a day.<\/span><\/p>\n

Oh yeah- and the other take away?<\/em> Beer wins. Again.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

P.S. Almost forgot about my imbibing brothers.\u00a0 Well fellas, your healthy drinking target seems to be around two per day.\u00a0 Sorry- didn’t do much research on that, but let’s just roll with it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sl\u00e1inte!<\/em> (To your health<\/em>)<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Like this\u00a0blarticle? Well, thanks- you\u2019re far too kind. \u00a0Want to read more beer inspired thoughts?\u00a0 Come back any time, subscribe to our\u00a0RSS feed or follow us on Twitter at\u00a0twitter.com\/beersyndicate.<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Follow @beersyndicate<\/a>