Beer isn’t traditionally considered a health food but new research suggests the beverage could have some micobiome boosting benefits.
Professor Eric Claassen from the University of Amsterdam recently presented his findings on frothies, explaining that certain brands can contain significant amounts of gut health helping bacteria.
In case you need catching up – microbiome or microbiota is the community of microorganisms comprised mostly of bacteria that are involved in many of the body’s critical functions, influencing everything from metabolism to mental health. Research on the topic has lead to a boom in the popularity of fermented foods and drinks (like yoghurt, sauerkraut, kefir and kombucha) which can help give your body a dose of probiotics, essential to healthy microbiome.
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While most beers go through one fermentation process to break down the sugars into alcohol, some Belgian brews are twice fermented for stronger alcoholic content.
“The second fermentation increases the strength of the beer and creates a sharper, drier taste,” the Telegraph reported. This additional round “also uses a different strain of yeast found in traditional pints. This strain of yeast produces acids that kill harmful bacteria in the gut that can make us ill.”
Despite the presence of pathogen-busting microbes, Claassen has stressed the need for moderation.
“We don’t want to give people a licence to drink more beer,” he said. “Those of us who advocate good health know it’s very difficult for people to stop at one. In high concentrations alcohol is bad for the gut but if you drink just one of these beers every day it would be very good for you.”
We’ll drink (a solitary beer) to that.