Beer and its non-alcoholic compounds in health and disease

Authors of a paper published in the November edition of Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition highlight how moderate alcohol consumption has been associated with beneficial effects on human health. Specifically, consumption of red wine and beer has shown a J-shape relation with many important diseases. While a role of ethanol cannot be excluded, the high content of polyphenols in both beverages has been proposed to contribute to these effects, with beer having the advantage over wine that it is lower in alcohol. In addition to ethanol, beer contains a wide variety of compounds with known medicinal potential such as kaempferol, quercetin, tyrosol and phenolic acids, and it is the main dietary source for the flavones xanthohumol and 8-prenylnaringenin, and bitter acids such as humulones and lupulones.
Clinical and pre-clinical evidence for the protective effects of moderate beer consumption against cardiovascular disease and other diseases has been accumulating since the 1990s, and the non- alcoholic compounds of beer likely exert most of the observed beneficial effects.
In their review, the authors summarise and discuss the effects of beer consumption in health and disease as well as the clinical potential of its non- alcoholic compounds which may be promising candidates for new therapies against common chronic diseases.
Source: Beer and its non-alcoholic compounds in health and disease. Osorio- lavez S. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. 2019 Nov