Researchers at the Center for Research in Medical Technologies and Services (CINTESIS) in Porto concluded that “beer drinking is good for the gut microbiota,” a factor associated with the prevention of chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. disease.
CINTESIS said in a statement that the study, publicado no Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistryye, which also included researchers from the NOVA School of Medicine, Department of Health Sciences, concluded that “beer drinking is good for the gut microbiota.”
“Beer consumption improves the composition of the gut microbiota, which is associated with the prevention of very common chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease,” the center emphasizes.
During the study, the group recruited healthy men aged 23 to 58 for a four-week trial that involved drinking 330 milliliters (mL) of beer daily with or without alcohol.
The results showed that drinking beer, a beverage derived from the fermentation of cereals, “increases gut microbiota diversity without increasing weight and fat mass.”
At the same time, the researchers concluded that drinking this drink “does not significantly affect cardiometabolic biomarkers” such as glucose, cholesterol and triglycerides.
“Interestingly, alkaline phosphatase, an important biomarker of liver, kidney, and bone damage, decreased over the course of the study,” notes CINTESIS, adding that the gut health benefits of beer “appeared to be independent of alcohol content,” i.e., occur regardless of whether whether there is alcohol in the beer or not.
The researchers believe that the positive effects of beer may be due to the polyphenols present in the drink, similar to what happens with red wine.
The researchers cited in the statement emphasize that the study “demonstrates that this type of polyphenol-rich beverage, in this case beer, is an interesting approach to increase gut microbiota diversity.”
The study, which was led by researchers Ana Faria and Conceição Calhau, also involved other CINTESIS specialists.
