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View of beer made with water collected by fog catchers in Ovalle, Chile, on June 30, 2022. AFP PHOTO
LISBON: Drinking beer is beneficial to the intestine and has the potential to prevent chronic diseases, according to research by the Center for Research in Health Technologies and Services (Cintesis), a nonprofit research and development unit, in the city of Porto in northern Portugal.
"Beer consumption contributes to the improvement of the composition of the intestinal microbiota, a factor that has been associated with the prevention of very common chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases," said Cintesis in a statement on Monday.
During the study, healthy men ages 23 to 58 drank 330 milliliters of beer daily, with or without alcohol, for four weeks. The results obtained by the research pointed out that beer consumption "increases the diversity of the intestinal microbiota, without increasing weight and fat mass."
Drinking beer "does not significantly interfere with cardiometabolic biomarkers" such as glucose, cholesterol and triglycerides, the statement said. The researchers point out that the beneficial effect of beer is linked to the polyphenols present in the drink, as has already been proven in red wine.
The study, published recently in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, revealed that the benefit of beer on gut health "proved to be independent of alcohol content" or absence of this element.
