Don’t get too excited – you still can’t drink as much as you want.
It’s important to remember the recommended 14 units of alcohol per week, so around six pints.
Drinking more than that can increase your risk of heart disease, stroke, liver disease, and some types of cancer.
That doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy and benefit from beer.
Here’s how beer is good for your health…
- It protects your heart
According to experts at the Mediterranean Neurological Institute in Italy, drinking one and a half liters a day reduces the risk of heart disease by a third.
A study of more than one million men and women found moderate beer drinkers had a 42 percent lower risk of heart disease than non-drinkers.
For best protection, they recommend drinking a pint of 5% alcohol each day.
This isn’t the only study showing that beer is good for the heart.
A 2016 study by the American Heart Association found that moderate drinkers had the slowest reduction in good cholesterol and better protection against heart disease.
- Prevent diabetes
According to a study published by the European Diabetes Association, people who drink 3-4 times a week are less likely to develop diabetes than those who don’t.
Those who drank one to six beers per week were 21 percent less likely to develop the disease.
Another study from Athens’ Harokopio University looked at 1,500 men and found that drinking less beer a day halved the risk of diabetes, especially among people who ate healthily.
Beer stopped blood sugar levels from rising to dangerous levels and increased the body’s response to insulin.
- Improves your brain
It’s easy to assume that beer makes you stupid, especially after you’ve met your mate a few pints later.
But the silicon in beer helps protect your brain from the build-up of various compounds that can lead to cognitive decline.
A Loyola University Chicago study found that moderate drinkers were 23 percent less likely to develop Alzheimer’s.
Lead author Edward Neafsy said: “We do not recommend that non-drinkers start drinking, but moderate drinking can be beneficial.”
Moderate alcohol is defined as a maximum of two drinks per day for men and one drink per day for women.
At the other end of the scale, heavy drinking — three to five drinks a day — is associated with a higher risk of Alzheimer’s.
Another study found that people who drank a few beers solved puzzles faster than smarter people – 30 percent faster, to be exact.