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Drinking beer is beneficial to the intestine and has the potential to prevent chronic diseases, a new study has claimed. "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 research by the Center for Research in Health Technologies and Services (CINTESIS), a non-profit research and development unit, in the city of Porto in northern Portugal.
During the study, healthy men aged 23 to 58 drank 330 milliliters of beer daily, with or without alcohol, for four weeks.
CINTESIS, in a statement, said that 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.
