It’s official: A pint a day helps your heart

A pint of beer a day is actually good for you, according to new research.

The drink improves the state of blood vessels around the heart, improves blood flow and makes the arteries more flexible.

Crucially, the study found that alcohol-free beer did not have the same effect.

The findings, by researchers in Greece, support previous evidence that moderate beer consumption may protect against heart disease.

Some evidence suggests a pint a day reduces the risk of heart attacks and strokes by 30 per cent.

But this is believed to be one of the first studies to look at what actually happens to the cardiovascular system immediately after a pint is downed.

Ireland guzzles its way through more than 150 pints of beer per person each year.

Scientists at Harokopio University in Athens recruited 17 non-smoking men in their late twenties and early thirties. Each one had their cardiovascular health measured within an hour or two of drinking 400 millilitres of beer — equivalent to just over two-thirds of a pint.

They later had the same tests done after the same amount of alcohol-free beer or a measure of vodka.

Researchers tested for endothelial function — a measure of how easily blood passes through major arteries — as well as aortic stiffness, a check designed to assess whether blood vessels are nice and relaxed or beginning to harden.

The results, published online in the journal Nutrition, showed all three had some beneficial effect on the stiffness of arteries but beer had the most benefits.

Researchers said the combination of alcohol and antioxidants in beer may be crucial to the drink’s healthy effects.

Darker beers, like stouts and ales, have been shown to be better for the heart than lager.

Heart disease kills about 10,000 people here each year.

Fatty diets, lack of exercise and smoking are all key risk factors.

Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/irishsol/homepage/news/4996716/Its-official-A-pint-a-day-helps-your-heart.html#ixzz2Y57of9Dw