A beer every day after work? This shouldn’t become the rule. Read here which three warning signals from your body you should not ignore.
No other alcoholic beverage is as important in Germany as beer. People drink it at lunch, at the end of the day or simply while going for a walk.
However, anyone who thinks that a “beer belly” is the only consequence of excessive beer consumption is wrong.
First of all, a setback for all fans of alcohol consumption: There is – and this is scientifically proven – no amount of alcohol, no matter how small, that is harmless.
The World Health Organization and various studies have long shown how harmful alcohol consumption can be. This also applies to the habit of drinking beer every day.
The German Center for Addiction Issues therefore recommends limiting daily consumption to certain quantities. Low-risk drinking therefore includes the following guidelines for women and men:
However, not everyone knows what the exact health consequences of drinking a beer every day can be. Some of them sound extremely unpleasant and undesirable.
Research is still unclear about the actual impact of beer and alcohol on the brain. There are studies that show that drinking hard alcohol is more likely to lead to cognitive decline and even Alzheimer’s than drinking beer or wine.
Another study goes a little further and shows that just half a beer a day could shrink brain mass. “It gets worse the more you drink,” says co-author Remi Daviet (via IFL Science).
On the other hand, according to research from 2019, beer with a high hop content could also help reduce inflammation in the central nervous system (neuroinflammation). A study from 2017, however, came to different results. At least no protective effect on perception could be found through drinking less rather than regularly.
Beer puts pressure on the kidneys in several ways. On the one hand, they have to flush the alcohol out of the blood. So if you drink beer every day, your kidneys are particularly challenged. There is also the risk of increased high blood pressure due to regular alcohol consumption. According to the National Kidney Foundation, this can in turn trigger kidney disease.
On the other hand, beer is a diuretic, which puts a different strain on the kidneys. It also has a dehydrating effect and flushes important electrolytes from the body. The result can be muscle cramps, fatigue and a feeling of weakness.
At least most people know one consequence: drinking beer every day can make you fat. A small beer (0.33 liters) provides you with an average of around 150 calories (kcal).
So if you keep the amount low per day, you don’t have to worry. More than one of these quickly adds quite a bit to your daily calorie count. This can cause your weight to rise within a month.
What’s worse, however, is that even moderate alcohol consumption can stimulate your appetite, according to a 2017 study. It can keep you full for a shorter period of time after a meal. It also has the ability to stimulate the food reward center in the brain.
In order not to exceed the above-mentioned amounts of alcohol per day, women should consume a maximum of one small glass (250 milliliters) and men a maximum of two small glasses of beer (500 milliliters) with five percent alcohol by volume. In general, experts advise against drinking more than 500 milliliters of beer per day.
If you don’t stick to this, you have to expect the following alarm signals from your body. These can start as low as 0.1 per mille. For comparison: According to the alcohol calculator, a 35-year-old man who is 1.80 meters tall and weighs 80 kilograms already reaches 0.33 alcohol after one beer (0.5 liters):
The good news: According to another study from June 15, 2022, beer is said to have a positive effect on the intestinal flora. The research, published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, was conducted over four weeks on 19 healthy men. They were divided into two groups and had to drink one beer (325 milliliters) every day.
The study suggests that moderate consumption could increase the diversity of intestinal bacteria and thus intestinal health. Tested blood and stool samples collected before and after the experiment, as well as analysis of the bacteria in the intestines, showed this. Components of the beer that enable its fermentation could play a role.
The original for this article “Is one beer too much? You have to pay attention to three warning signals from your body” comes from futurezone.de.
