A Beer Drinker Can Live Longer
Someone who drinks beer moderately can live longer compared to someone who does not drink at all. Beer is great for moderate drinking. If you are drinking beer in large quantities then it is not at all good for your health. But according to numerous studies, moderate drinking people live longer and better than drunk people and teetotalers.
In comparison with alcohol and spirits, beer is perfect as a selection of moderate drinking because of the low alcohol content in beer. And as we all know Thomas Jefferson has already mentioned Beer, if drunk with moderation, softens the temper, cheers the spirit, and promotes health. in his last research papers.
If Lifestyle Changes Arent Enough
Take medications, if you need to, to lower your cholesterol into healthy ranges. Drugs like statins can be very effective, says Dr. Danine Fruge, MD, ABFP – Medical Director at the Pritikin Longevity Center, but do continue in your efforts to eat well and exercise because a healthy lifestyle can give you far, far more than drugs alone.
With a healthy living program like Pritikin, youre not only reducing cholesterol quickly, youre also creating changes throughout your body that can profoundly improve your overall well-being. Youre reducing blood sugar levels and blood pressure. Other heart disease risk factors like triglyceride fats are also dropping dramatically. Youre also reducing inflammatory factors that sicken arteries. Youre shedding excess weight. And, quite simply, youre feeling better, much better. Many of our guests at Pritikin tell us, I had no idea I could feel this good again.
Can any pill or combination of pills do all of the above? I highly doubt it. But a healthy lifestyle like Pritikin can.
Iii Sample Research On Alcohol And Cholesterol
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Drinking Alcohol and All-Cause Mortality Risk.
Japan
Researchers made a study using three independent general Japanese populations. The total number of male subjects was 2,289. The number of females was 1,940. Thus, the total number was 4,229. Their mean age was 63.3.
Alcohol consumption was positively associated with HDL but negatively with LDL level.
The researchers conclusion was simple. Alcohol consumption has a causal role in not only increasing HDL cholesterol levels but also decreasing LDL cholesterol levels.1
Postmenopausal Women
Postmenopausal women participated in an eight-week controlled diet experiment. The control group drank no alcohol. One group consumed one drink per day. The third group had two drinks daily. The energy provided by the three diets was the same. After the diet, the researchers tested the HDL and LDL levels. Then they compared the latter groups to those of the control group.
Women who had one drink daily had lower LDL levels. Having two daily drinks did not significantly reduce them further. One daily drink marginally increased HDL. However, two daily drinks greatly raised HDL levels.2
Nonsmokers
Other researchers found better HDL levels among nonsmoking men and women who had at least seven drinks weekly. Then the researchers compared them to nonsmoking abstainers. The participants averaged 32 years of age.
Drinking in moderation has a positive affect while smoking appears to have a negative affect on HDL levels.3
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Types Of Alcohol And Their Effect On Cholesterol
According to the American Addiction Center , drinking more than moderate amounts of wine, beer, or liquor such as vodka, whisky, and gin can have a detrimental effect on a persons health, including causing elevated cholesterol levels.
In addition, the type of alcohol a person consumes can have different effects on the body. The following sections will look at these types and their effects in more detail.
So Which Food Products Lower The Level Of Cholesterol Naturally
Animal products with a high fat content, such as fatty meat, whole milk, cheese or butter, as well as heavily sweetened foods and large amounts of alcohol, increase the level of cholesterol and should therefore be avoided. But which foods have the opposite effect and have a positive impact on your cholesterol levels? We have summarised the top 6 for you here:
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Manage Your Cholesterol And Blood Sugar With Ginger Beer
Ginger beer is a natural beverage that has become popular all over the world for its powerful pain-relieving and anti-inflammatory properties.
It is made by fermenting ginger, which concentrates this amazing plants many medicinal powers. Ginger beer is commonly used to help fight joint problems. After all, it manages pain, swelling, and fluid retention in your tissues. Its also good for calming muscular tension and other kinds of conditions that can be very painful.
It even contains live-active cultures of friendly bacteria, which regulate your intestinal flora and improve your digestive health.
Plus, regular ginger beer consumption can help eliminate excess cholesterol in your arteries and lower your blood sugar levels.
Read more:
How Can I Drink Less Alcohol
Cutting down on alcohol can be easier than you think. Try these tips to help you:
- check the percentage of alcohol in your drinks and swap to lower strength options
- only drink while youre having a meal
- take the bottle off the table while youre eating, so you wont top up without thinking
- alternate alcoholic drinks with soft drinks
- make your drinks last longer by adding ice, water or mixers
- try drinking more slowly
- watch out for very large glasses
- choose smaller amounts, such as a bottle of beer instead of a pint
- buy a measure so you know how much youre drinking.
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Reasons Why Beer Is Actually Good For You
Coffee might be the elixir of life and a late-night cocktail might be just what you need after a long day, but beer? Beer is something else entirely, and there are some moments that just call for kicking back with a cold one. Lager or stout, red ale or IPA, it doesn’t matter what your drink of choice is, there’s no denying that some of the best moments in life are sitting in the yard with a best friend, relaxing, and sharing a few beers.
But with that comes a certain amount of concern. There’s always the chance of over-indulging, and when it comes to alcohol, beer has the reputation of being the one that’s going to put a few inches on your waistline. As far as benefits, it’s red wine that’s good for you, you’ve probably heard, and beer… not so much.
Fortunately, science can be kind of awesome, and there’s been some fascinating studies on why beer in moderation can actually be good for you. Really! Honestly! So, let’s talk about the reasons why you should be drinking the occasional beer.
What Cholesterol Levels Are Normal
Total cholesterol should not be higher than 200mg/dl . Total cholesterol is divided into HDL cholesterol and LDL cholesterol . The latter has a vascular-damaging effect and should therefore be kept low. The good HDL cholesterol should always be kept above 40mg/dl this protects the blood vessels! The bad LDL cholesterol should never settle above 160mg/dl.
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Beer Might Help Keep Your Heart Healthy
Here’s where we need to talk about something important: moderation. According to the Harvard Medical School, beer can have a positive impact on your heart health, but they’re talking about around one drink a day. Any more than that, and you can start doing more harm than good.
So, what’s going on here? According to a study published in the European Journal of Epidemiology , data from 200,000 people suggested that drinking one pint of beer a day lowered the risk of heart disease by an average of 31 percent.
Why? It’s all about the alcohol, which has been linked to helping raise good cholesterol. We hear a lot about cholesterol and why it’s bad, but this is the good stuff that actually helps protect your body against heart disease. Wine does the same thing, but here’s the catch beer fills you up faster than the equivalent amount of wine, and that means it’s easier and more fulfilling to limit yourself to just one.
And those findings were supported by a study published in the journal Nutrients in 2018. They specifically looked at the effects of light to moderate drinking in individuals that were overweight or obese, and came to the conclusion that not only were there no negative effects, but that beer-a-day routine helped prevent fatty build-ups from forming in the cardiovascular system.
Tactics To Reduce Cholesterol Quickly
For most of us, there’s really no need to pack our medicine cabinets with pills to reduce cholesterol levels. Natural, lifestyle-based strategies have proven extraordinarily effective in reducing cholesterol quickly and permanently.
Get the top 5 food and fitness tips recommended by the doctors, dietitians, exercise experts, and other faculty at the Pritikin Longevity Center. Pritikin has been helping people lower cholesterol levels since 1975.
Did you know that for every 10% drop in your cholesterol level, your heart attack risk drops by 20% to 30%? Theres more good news: Most of us can reduce cholesterol quickly, and without the need for medications. Simple lifestyle strategies can be very powerful.
Thats what several studies on thousands following the Pritikin Program of diet and exercise have found. Within three weeks, people were able to lower their cholesterol levels on average 23%, which translates into a 46% to 69% drop in heart attack risk.1
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How Does Alcohol Raise Your Cholesterol
- When you drink alcohol, its broken down and rebuilt into triglycerides and cholesterol in the liver. So, drinking alcohol raises the triglycerides and cholesterol in your blood.
- If your triglyceride levels become too high, they can build up in the liver, causing fatty liver disease. The liver cant work as well as it should and cant remove cholesterol from your blood, so your cholesterol levels rise.
- Alcohol can lead to the combination of a high triglyceride level along with low HDL cholesterol. This can lead to heart disease.
Alcohol can affect your health in other ways too:
- it can lead to weight gain and raise your blood pressure, which raises your risk of heart disease
- it can lead to some types of cancer, liver disease, pancreatitis, depression and dependency.
The Effect Of Beer On Cholesterol And Triglycerides
There are not a lot of studies solely looking at how beer can affect your cholesterol and triglyceride levels. Most studies look at all types of alcoholic beverages and their effect on cholesterol, triglycerides, and heart health as a whole. Studies have examined the consumption of beer products on lipids in amounts ranging from 60 to 340 mL daily from anywhere between 4 and 6 weeks on average.
It was found that, in some studies, people drinking at least one beer beverage a day saw an increase in HDL cholesterol levels by up to 11 percent. Additionally, LDL levels in some studies were lowered by up to 18 percent, although some other studies did not see a significant decrease in LDL. The manner in which beer affects your lipid levels is not known. In these studies, the type or brand of beer was not usually noted.
One study also showed that one beer daily could reduce oxidation of LDL. However, consumption of three or more beers daily actually promoted LDL oxidation. Studies have shown that oxidized LDL can promote inflammation of the inner lining of blood vessels and contribute to the formation of atherosclerosis leading to the development of cardiovascular disease.
Although there were some positive effects noted from drinking beer and other types of alcohol, there were also some negative effects: elevated triglyceride levels were also noted as consumption of beer increased. Having very high triglyceride levels is another risk factor for developing cardiovascular disease.
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Does Beer Raise Cholesterol
When you get a blood cholesterol test, the results reveal information about three types of lipids in your arteries: low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, also known as LDL or bad cholesterol high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, sometimes called good or HDL cholesterol, and triglycerides, a type of fat that tends to clog your arteries. Drinking beer may elevate your triglycerides. If your beer consumption leads to weight gain, it may also harm your LDL and HDL cholesterol levels.
The Link Between Beer And Cholesterol
A cholesterol test will reveal the three types of fat in your blood: HDL and LDL cholesterol the good and bad types and triglycerides, another type of bad fat. A healthy cholesterol level generally means having higher HDL and lower LDL cholesterol and triglycerides.
The good news is that some research, including one study by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, has found that a daily beer is associated with a reduction in LDL cholesterol of up to 18%. Another study by Penn State University in the US discovered that moderate beer consumption appears to help people maintain decent levels of HDL cholesterol. However, the study concluded that drinking three or more beers a day was found to send bad cholesterol levels soaring.
Drinking beer also has an effect on triglycerides, the fats in your blood. This is because beer contains both carbohydrates and alcohol, two substances that raise triglyceride levels raised triglyceride levels often come with lowered HDL cholesterol levels. Most beers tend to be calorie-dense too, so if your consumption is high enough to lead to weight gain, this in turn could harm your overall cholesterol levels.
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Beer Might Be Good For Your Eyes
According to the National Eye Institute, cataracts are extremely common and they’re usually just one more annoying side effect of the aging process. Cataract surgery is one of the most common surgeries in the U.S., but any time you can avoid surgery is a good thing, right? And the science is still out on this one, but beer in moderation might just help you dodge this unpleasant process.
According to research presented to the International Chemical Conference of Pacific Basin Societies , studies have shown that the antioxidants in beer especially the ones found in stout and ale are particularly good at protecting the eyes against damage that leads to cataracts. And they suggest you don’t need to drink much to get the full benefits, just one beer a day.
Later work done by Sun Yat-Sen University found there was a definite lack of thorough studies done in the area of examining the relationship between alcohol and cataracts, but did note that when they compiled the findings of the studies that had been done, they confirmed that there seemed to be no added risk for even moderate to heavy drinkers. That one beer a day isn’t going to hurt your eyes, and it just might help you see clearer in the long run.
Alcohol Boosts Good Cholesterol
A few studies have found that people who drink alcohol in moderation have lower rates of heart disease, and might even live longer than those who abstain. Alcohol has also been tied to a lower risk of blood clots and decreased levels of inflammation markers.
Many believe that the main benefit of alcohol comes from its ability to raise HDL cholesterol levels .
In particular, red wine might offer the greatest benefit for lowering heart disease risk and death because it contains higher levels of natural plant chemicals — such as resveratrol — that have antioxidant properties and might protect artery walls.
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Does Alcohol Protect Against Heart Problems
Some studies have shown an association between moderate alcohol intake and a lower risk of dying from heart disease.
But its hard to determine cause and effect from those studies, says McEvoy. Perhaps people who sip red wine have higher incomes, which tend to be associated with more education and greater access to healthier foods. Similarly, red wine drinkers might be more likely to eat a heart-healthy diet.
There is some evidence that moderate amounts of alcohol might help to slightly raise levels of good HDL cholesterol. Researchers have also suggested that red wine, in particular, might protect the heart, thanks to the antioxidants it contains.
But you dont have to pop a cork to reap those benefits. Exercise can also boost HDL cholesterol levels, and antioxidants can be found in other foods, such as fruits, vegetables and grape juice
How Much Alcohol Is Too Much
Whether or not moderate drinking is good for your heart is open to debate. However, for most people, it doesnt appear to be harmful to the heart, McEvoy says but the key word is moderate.
Moderate drinking is defined as an average of one drink per day for women and one or two for men. A drink might be less than you think: 12 ounces of beer, 4 ounces of wine or 1.5 ounces of 80-proof spirits.
Some people should avoid even that much, McEvoy adds. He advises patients not to drink at all if they have certain heart rhythm abnormalities or have heart failure. There are certain situations where its best the patient doesnt drink any alcohol, he says.
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Detrimental Effects Of Beer
Studies have been carried out to quantify the harmful effects of beer consumption. Most of the detrimental effects relate to high alcohol levels resulting from heavy consumption of beer.
Acute alcohol-related incidents included pancreatitis, excess blood alcohol, poisoning and suicide. Chronic effects included malignant neoplasms, diabetes, hypertension, tuberculosis, pneumonia, influenza and chronic pancreatitis.
An ecological study carried out in Louisiana, US, found that populations in districts with high levels of beer consumption had higher premature mortality with 24 per cent of deaths related to beer drinking. Beer consumption was independently associated with homicide, liver diseases and cardiovascular disease.
The risk of cancer in Danish brewery workers receiving 2.1 litres of free beer daily was investigated in 13,051 subjects. Reported outcomes were that there was a significantly increased risk of cancers, particularly in the buccal cavity, digestive organs, respiratory system and urinary system, and slight increase in colon and rectum cancers.
However, a study in eastern France found that moderate drinking of both beer and wine was associated with a lower mortality from all causes, and both drinks reduced the risk of cardiovascular death.