6 reasons why is good to drink beer

Beer is one of the world's oldest and most consumed alcoholic beverages, and third third most popular drink overall (just tea and water are above). It was first brewed nearly 7 000 years ago. It's been featured in religious ceremonies, praised in literature, and prized for its medicinal properties. What the ancients suspected about the health benefits of beer, modern-day science continues to prove.

Ironically, heavy drinking can damage the same organs that moderate consumption (about two drinks a day for men and one for women) can benefit. So it's important to always drink in moderation-and avoid alcohol altogether if you have a history of substance abuse. Here are six ways that a pint a day can keep the doctor away:

1. Cuts cancer risk.
A 2001 study from the University of Prague reported that hop flavonoids found in beer share a structure similar to estrogen and can therefore mimic it, which may lower the risk of hormone-related cancers such as breast and prostate cancer. They have also shown promise in relieving symptoms of menopause.

2. Promotes strong bones.
According to researchers at Tufts University, beer contains high levels of silicon, which help speed the delivery of calcium and other minerals to bone tissue, especially in men and young women.

3. Increases mental capacity.
A study from Harvard University published in the New England Journal of Medicine reported that moderate beer consumption contributed to increased mental capacity in older women. In addition, a 2003 article in the Journal of the American Medical Association claimed that individuals 65 and older who drank one to six drinks a week were less likely to suffer from dementia.

4. Helps the heart.
Researchers at Rockefeller University concluded that alcohol increases levels of high-density lipoproteins, the good cholesterol that transports excess cholesterol to the liver for disposal and bestows the circulatory system with anti-inflammatory and anti-clogging capabilities. In addition, a 2006 study conducted by Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and the Harvard School of Public Health found that healthy men who drank moderately saw a 40 to 60 percent decrease in heart attack risk.

5. Maintains healthy cell function.
Researchers in the Netherlands found that beer drinkers had higher levels of vitamin B6, which plays a crucial role in the metabolism of red blood cells and the synthesis of neurotransmitters vital for normal brain function.

6. Keeps stones away.
Perhaps because of its high magnesium content, beer has been shown to reduce the incidence of gall stones and kidney stones; according to researchers in Finland, the consumption of one beer a day helped cut the risk of kidney stones by 40 percent.

Booze-blogging?

Stephen Green of VodkaPundit is widely hailed as the inventor of drunk-blogging -- i.e., live-blogging an event while under the influence. I had the opportunity during the 2008 Democratic National Convention to actually watch the master at work, and attest that the man can, as the late poet Ronnie Van Zant once said, "drink enough whiskey to float a battleship around."

I've never tried drunk-blogging myself, at least not on purpose, although there may have been occasions -- including Election Night at the Hotel Saranac -- when the deadline pressure required me to self-medicate to counteract the effects of my massive coffee intake.

All of that, however, is prelude to a discussion of booze-blogging, which is blogging about booze. Given that this site is the originator of Rule 5 Sunday -- the weekly babe-blogging roundup -- you might suppose that the natural booze-and-broads pairing would replicate itself on the 'sphere. Yet until this morning, I didn't even know there was such a thing as booze-blogging.

Then I got an e-mail from Doug Winship of the Pegu Blog, who informed me that he found "How to Get a Million Hits" inspirational. Doug wanted to pass along the news that, just as political bloggers are encroaching on the Old Media's turf, so it is that booze-bloggers are exposing booze bias among the snobs:

Unless you spend a lot of time in wine chat rooms, you may have missed the recent controversies involving critic Robert Parker. The short version: Parker's publication, the Wine Advocate, was found to be violating its own strictures against freebies and fraternizing with wine importers, and a contributor he hired gave a high rating to a wine based on a sample that seemed to bear little resemblance to what was available on retail shelves. The back-to-back scandals . . . came to light via several wine Web sites, including Parker's own online discussion board. The Internet angle is actually the most significant aspect of this story, for it underscores how profoundly technology is changing the relationship between wine critics and consumers -- the relationship between you and me.

Personally, I avoid wine just like I avoid whiskey (ever since Jack Daniel and I had a bad night at Ralph and Millie's Christmas party a few years ago). Above all, however, I avoid snobbery.

Beer snobs get on my nerves. It pains me to see these poseurs pestering a bartender in quest of some obscure imported premium ale -- dark as sin, with the flavor and texture of a peat bog -- just so their friends won't see them drinking a Bud.

The Internet revolutionizes everything it touches, from poker to politics to porn. The 'Net has also apparently revolutionized snobbery, enabling status-seekers to go online and find highfalutin stuff with which to impress their peers -- including pricey call girls. But a whore is a whore is a whore, and a beer is a beer is a beer, and all these Veblenian status-displays don't change the basic facts.

Fortunately, Doug Winship appears to strive against such bibulous pretensiousness, although he hasn't gotten down in the gutter with Valu-Rite vodka, the favorite swill of hobo-killers.

You've got to admire the populism of a guy who writes about drinking at Disney World. No cork-sniffing epicurean would admit such a thing, lest he be shunned by sommeliers.