Infographic: Basics of Beer
Beer is a fermented beverage with a relatively low (or no) alcohol percentage, whose natural ingredients contain small amounts of valuable nutrients, minerals and vitamins.
Explanimation: Beer and nutrients
Beer is typically a low strength, fermented alcoholic beverage. It is made from a common pallet of ingredients, rooted in nature.
Explanimation: Beer and cardiovascular health
The best way to look after your heart is to follow a healthy diet and lifestyle. For healthy adults, moderate beer consumption can be part of this balanced way of living.
Infographic: Type 2 Diabetes
Moderate beer consumption can lower the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
Booklet: Beer and Health – Moderate Consumption as Part of a Healthy Lifestyle
Beer has been a staple part of European diets for thousands of years, and through the ages it has become deeply ingrained in our traditions and culture.
Latest Updates
Abstinence from alcohol appears to be associated with an increased risk for all-cause dementia
Drinking up to 40 g of alcohol a day is associated with a lower risk of dementia when compared with life-time abstaining. This is the outcome of a recent systematic review including 15 cohort studies from countries situated in six continents including almost 25,000 participants over 60 years of age.1 Of course results of this study need to be put into context of results of studies with other health outcomes.
Modifiable risk factors for cancer, including alcohol consumption, analysed
A large study1 published in The Lancet investigates cancer burden attributable to potentially modifiable risk factors. The researchers found that worldwide 44.4% of cancer deaths and 42% of DALY’s (=disability-adjusted life-years) are attributable to modifiable risk factors like smoking, unhealthy diet, drinking alcohol and high BMI.
Large study shows small amounts of alcohol may be beneficial for people over forty
Although there is no misunderstanding that drinking too much alcohol is harmful, the relationship between moderate alcohol use and health is complex. A new study1, published in The Lancet, analyses the daily alcohol intake that minimises health risks based on worldwide data. For individuals aged 40 years and older, drinking small amounts of alcohol seems to have some beneficial effects, but drinking more increases health risks. For younger people the amount of alcohol that minimizes health risks is zero or close to zero.
Research on beer and menopause wins Beer and Health Publication Award 2021
Marta Trius-Soler wins the Beer and Health Publication Award 2021 with her publication on the effect of moderate beer consumption on menopausal symptoms. This is the second year on a row the Beer and Health Publication Award is awarded to the lead author of the best, most remarkable study focusing on moderate beer or alcohol consumption. Trius-Soler wins a monetary prize of 1,000 euro and may present her research findings during the next Beer and Health symposium in 2023.
Changes in alcohol consumption during COVID-19 pandemic in Europe
More people reduced than increased their alcohol use since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe. Those already drinking at high levels prior to COVID-19 mainly increased their alcohol consumption. This is the outcome of a recent meta-analysis.
Alcohol and the heart: a closer look at different research methods
What is the effect of alcohol consumption on cardiovascular disease? It is particularly difficult to investigate the effect of moderate consumption. A new study uses both the common research method and a newer method based on genetic variation. The common research method shows a protective effect on hypertension and coronary artery disease with moderate alcohol consumption. Adjusting for lifestyle factors slightly weakens this favorable association. The newer method of determining alcohol consumption on the basis of genes shows a slight increase in hypertension and coronary artery disease with moderate consumption.
Beer and Health - Moderate Consumption as part of a healthy lifestyle – 5th edition
Beer and Health Moderate Consumption as Part of a Healthy Lifestyle 5th Edition 2016 Click here to download the publication.
Basics on beer and health
This booklet summarises the relevant scientific literature on moderate beer consumption in relation to health, but there are some aspects you have to take into consideration while reading it. Click here to access the content
Beer and Health: Making up the Balance
Beer is made from natural ingredients and has relatively low (or zero) alcohol content compared to most other alcoholic beverages. read more …
About Beer and Health
Beer and Health gathers and presents the latest scientific research on the link between moderate beer consumption and health. And it builds upon a long tradition of experts coming together at the European Beer and Health Symposium, which has been organised practically every two or three years since 1999.
