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| Health Benefits Comparison: Wine vs Beer |
Its an established and accepted fact that consumption of wine and beer has its health benefits. In 2000, a Danish research revealed that all forms of alcohol can lower the risk of heart disease, thanks to its ability to increase HDL cholesterol and hence reduce the thickening and hardening of the arteries, red wine was shown to be the most effective in preventing heart disease. However it is yet to established and accepted which among wine and beer has the most health benefits.
Wine Is Good For The Heart: Lowers Risk of Heart Disease
Red wine (and white wine, to a much lesser extent) contains tannin procyanin. This antioxidant encourages cell growth while also preventing plaque build-up in the arteries and reduces the risk of stroke and other serious heart problems. In fact, this antioxidant is believed to the be the explanation for the so called "French paradox," the fact that the French have lower rates of heart disease than people from other countries, despite diets that tend to be high in fat and cholesterol.
Red-wine tannins contain procyanidins, which protect against heart disease. Wines from Sardinia and southwest France have more procyanidins than other wines. Source: a study at Queen Mary University in London, published in Nature, 2006.
Red wine contains resveratrol, a powerful antioxidant compound. Resveratrol also protects your heart and arteries against the effects of saturated fat in your diet, so drinking one or two glasses of red wine a day can help protect your heart and prevent cardiovascular disease.
The flavonoids and sapponins in red wine also help to protect your heart against cardiovascular disease. The alcohol in red wine, when consumed in moderation, raises your levels of "good" HDL cholesterol, helps prevent the formation of blood clots and can help to protect your arteries from the damage caused by "bad" LDL cholesterol.
Lower Risk Of Cancer
Substantial evidence suggests that drinking red wine in moderation can help prevent cancer. The many antioxidants in red wine can help prevent the oxidative damage responsible for the process of aging and for many degenerative conditions like Alzheimer's, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Guercetin, one of the many antioxidants in red wine, may help prevent lung cancer. Research has shown that resveratrol, the same red wine antioxidant that helps protect your heart, can also kill cancerous cells.
Resveratrol also inhibits cancerous cells' ability to remove irradiated particles, making radiation therapy more effective against cancer. Resveratrol also attacks cancerous cells and inhibits their ability to function.
Wine Promotes Healthy Weight:
No wonder you don't ever hear of anyone complaining about having a "wine belly". In general, wine is far lower in calories than beer. The fact that one glass (about six ounces) of wine has fewer calories than an equivalent amount of beer helps wine drinkers maintain a healthy weight more easily compared to beer drinkers.
Promotes Longevity
Wine drinkers have a 34 percent lower mortality rate than beer or spirits drinkers. Source: a Finnish study of 2,468 men over a 29-year period, published in the Journals of Gerontology, 2007.
Prevents Tooth Decay
Red wine, even non-alcoholic red wine, hardens your enamel to prevent tooth decay. Hardened enamel is more resistant to Streptococcus mutans, the bacteria which lives on your teeth and is responsible for tooth decay. The polyphenols in red wine can also prevent gum disease, and even help to treat it by reducing inflammation in the gums.
Lowers Risk of Stroke
The possibility of suffering a blood clot–related stroke drops by about 50 percent in people who consume moderate amounts of alcohol. Source: a Columbia University study of 3,176 individuals over an eight-year period, published in Stroke, 2006.
Cuts Risk of Cataracts
Moderate drinkers are 32 percent less likely to get cataracts than nondrinkers; those who consume wine are 43 percent less likely to develop cataracts than those drinking mainly beer. Source: a study of 1,379 individuals in Iceland, published in Nature, 2003.
Slows Brain Decline And Improves Memory
Brain function declines at a markedly faster rate in nondrinkers than in moderate drinkers. Source: a Columbia University study of 1,416 people, published in Neuroepidemiology, 2006. Wine could preserve your memory. When researchers gave memory quizzes to women in their 70s, those who drank one drink or more every day scored much better than those who drank less or not at all. Wine helps prevent clots and reduce blood vessel inflammation, both of which have been linked to cognitive decline and heart disease, explains Tedd Goldfinger, DO, of the University of Arizona School of Medicine. Alcohol also seems to raise HDL, the so-called good cholesterol, which helps unclog your arteries.
Boost Your Body Immunity
In one British study, those who drank roughly a glass of wine a day reduced by 11% their risk of infection by Helicobacter pylori bacteria, a major cause of gastritis, ulcers, and stomach cancers. As little as half a glass may also guard against food poisoning caused by germs like salmonella when people are exposed to contaminated food, according to a Spanish study.
Build Better Bones
On average, women who drink moderately seem to have higher bone mass than abstainers. Alcohol appears to boost estrogen levels; the hormone seems to slow the body’s destruction of old bone more than it slows the production of new bone.
Prevent Blood-Sugar Trouble
Premenopausal women who drink one or two glasses of wine a day are 40 percent less likely than women who don’t drink to develop type 2 diabetes, according to a 10-year study by Harvard Medical School. While the reasons aren’t clear, wine seems to reduce insulin resistance in diabetic patients.
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| Health Benefits Comparison: Wine vs Beer |
On the other hand, beer boasts of the following health benefits. Remember, though, to always drink in moderation, and be sure to get a designated driver to get home safely.
Reduces Risk of Heart Disease
All alcohol, whether it is beer, wine, or liquor, is known to help reduce heart disease. According to a 2008 article in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, moderate consumption of alcohol makes blood less sticky, and so it is less likely to clot. Alcohol can also increase good cholesterol and lower the bad, as well as lower your blood pressure. A Harvard study of 70,000 women found that those who consumed beer had a lower blood pressure than those who consumed wine or hard alcohol.
Helps the Kidneys
Alcohol gets a bad wrap for being hard on your kidneys, but beer can actually help in that department. According to the 2011 ADA Times, beer can actually reduce your risk of kidney stones. The hops not only help slow the release of calcium from the bones — too much calcium can cause kidney stones — but beer also has a high water content, which helps clear out those kidneys.
Packed with Nutrition
Beer is a surprising source of many nutrients. One 12-ounce beer has around one gram of fiber. It is also packed with B vitamins like niacin, pantothenic acid, folate, riboflavin, and vitamins B6 and B12. It is also rich in silicon, a nutrient that is said to help strengthen bones.
Reduces Risk of Diabetes
In 2011, Harvard did a study of 38,000 middle-aged men which showed that, when they upped their intake of beer to two a day, they dropped their risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 25 percent. There was, however, no noted benefit from drinking more than two beers a day.
Reduces Risk of Cancer
Just putting your meat in a marinade of beer can eliminate almost 70 percent of carcinogens from the meat, a Portuguese study found. That might not transfer to drinking the beer, but who doesn’t love a good beer marinade? If you do just drink it, though, it does contain loads of helpful antioxidants that can keep you healthy.
Increases Brain Health
Researchers think that a few beers a day can also stave off Alzheimer’s and can reduce your risk of stroke. In 2005, a study was done of 11,000 older women, and those who had one beer a day had better mental function than those who didn’t. In fact, they decreased their risk of mental decline by as much as 20 percent. The Harvard School of Public Health also did a study that showed that a few beers a day might reduce the risk of stroke by thinning the blood and preventing blood clots from traveling to the brain.
In Conclusion
The keyword is moderation. When consumed in moderation, both wine and beer does offer some clear essential benefits for our health. Choosing wine over beer, or vice versa, is often a matter of personal preference. However, if you want to help your heart and give your cells a boost, a glass of wine is clearly a better choice.
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