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Daily Record
Daily Record
Lifestyle
Will Maule & Lucy Farrell

Drinking one beer a day is good for your gut health, says new study

Drinking one beer a day could actually be good for your stomach health, according to a new study.

Academics ad the NOVA University Lisbon found that men who drank a bottle of lager each evening had healthier guts.

The study also found that drinking non-alcoholic beer had the same effect.

These findings are interesting to say the least, considering the many negative effects alcohol can have on the body.

The study involved nineteen healthy men, aged between 23 to 58, who were asked to drink a bottle of Super Bock lager with their dinner every night for a month.

Approximately half of the beers contained 5.2% alcohol, while the others were non-alcoholic, reported the Daily Mail.

By the end of the trial month, there were no discernible differences in the men's weight, fat mass or cholesterol levels.

The NHS recommends that adults consume no more than 14 units of alcohol a week (Getty Images)

However, interestingly, a stool analysis showed that the men had a greater range of bacteria in their gut following the experiment - a 7% increase was seen across all groups.

Researchers argued that consuming one bottle of beer, regardless of alcohol content, may be beneficial to intestinal health in men.

The group said that beers with higher amounts of yeast may have an even more significant effect on gut bacteria.

Beer is understood to improve the human microbiome - the collection of both good and bad microbes living inside us - because it contains micronutrients called polyphenols.

Polyphenols naturally occur in plants and can help encourage the growth of good bacteria in the stomach.

However, research shows that excessive drinking can be incredibly bad for your health, increasing the risk of cancer, liver disease, heart failure and stroke.

Indeed, despite the positive findings across the board, the researchers insisted that non-alcoholic beer is better for overall health, arguing that "the safest level of alcohol consumption is none".

The NHS recommends that adults consume no more than 14 units each week, which equates to approximately six pints of beer.

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