Could we soon see "health beers" alongside drinks like kombucha and probiotic smoothies? A new study claims drinking beer in moderation could be good for your gut and immunity.
The findings, published in the latest volume of the journal Frontiers in Nutrition, highlight how beer contains a brew of compounds that can be beneficial to the gut.
"As a long-established fermented beverage, beer is rich in many essential amino acids, vitamins, trace elements, and bioactive substances that are involved in the regulation of many human physiological functions," the study says. "The polyphenols in the malt and hops of beer are also important active compounds that interact in both directions with the gut microbiome."
Previous studies have investigated how these "beer bioactives" may help prevent arteriosclerosis and heart disease, improve blood circulation, support antioxidant and anti-ageing effects, promote estrogen production, and reduce radiation damage.
Researchers say beer has a beneficial impact on gut health whether or not it contains alcohol. The key, of course, is responsible moderation.
"When beer is consumed in moderation, the phenols and other nutrients it contains are fermented and broken down by the microbial community that resides in the outer mucosal layer of the gut. This miraculous digestive process produces a large number of metabolites that... promote changes in the abundance of beneficial flora, exerting a range of anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and immunomodulatory effects," the study says.
Those effects are so strong that researchers say beer actually has the potential to be more powerful than probiotics.
"Due to the conversion of beer substrates, the formation of bioactive end products, and the presence of microorganisms, some of its components exert 'similar' or even greater effects than probiotics," the study noted.
The researchers say their findings suggest that "low or non-alcoholic beers are good candidates for functional foods" and that "health beers" fortified with bioactive substances such as fiber, antioxidants, and probiotics "would provide health benefits to consumers."
The study ends by encouraging further research to determine whether "beer can be used in the future as a micro-ecological regulator or even as an alternative therapy for chronic diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, and obesity."
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