Rejoice, Ye Beerlovers! The Wonders of Science Are With You!

Step aside, red wine. Sit down, moderate exercise. And get behind me, low-cholesterol diet. I have a new weapon in my battle against heart disease. And no, it's not chocolate. It's beer.

According to a research team at Innsbruck Medical University in Austria, beer has an anti-inflammatory effect (think aspirin or Tylenol) that "may have a beneficial effect on coronary heart disease." Don't worry, teetotalers...this effect seems to be independent of alcohol content, which means nonalcoholic beers have these benefits, too.

And the joy doesn't stop there! Apparently beer also has anticancer properties and, in contradiction to the conventional wisdom, is not fattening. Researchers at Okayama University in Japan believe that an as-yet-unidentified compound(s) in beer (specifically lager and stout) may prevent cancer-causing DNA damage. (Keep in mind, though, that high alcohol consumption may be responsible for as much as 6 percent of cancers in the West.) AND, according to the ever unbiased British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA), beer has fewer calories than wine, milk, or orange juice. Why the beer belly, then? The BBPA says: Don't blame your hoppy friend, blame the pizza you're washing down with beer.

How do I know all this to be true? Because it just so happens that beer makes me more clever, too.

[Links lead to associated stories at The Register. And while you're at it, learn a little bit about the adventure of homebrewing at Homebrew Odyssey.]

Update 3/27/06: An anonymous commenter has suggested that I should "report (for sake of intellectual honesty and for completeness) that the anti-inflammatory effects of beer (particularly the interferon inhibition) has not been verified via a randomized control trial and does not necessarily improve healthcare outcomes (with regard to anti-inflammatory effect)."

For the record, I don't think any of these beer stories are worth their weight in hops. But it does go to show that if you want to believe something, the "facts" are only a Google search away.

Chocolate - the Elixir of Youth?

It's been a good week for chocolate...well, for chocolate eaters, really. First came the news from a Dutch study that regularly consuming cocoa can halve the risk of dying (from a heart attack, I think; we all know what the real risk of dying is!). Then a group of New Zelanders announced that a glass of chocolate milk after taking a stroll may help one live a longer, healthier life.

But don't go knocking the corner store over for their stock of Hershey's just yet. Both studies were focused on the health of seniors and on ways to help reduce the impact of aging. Plus, both were advocating the use of chocolate in moderation (a word unfamiliar to many of us in the West). Keep in mind that turning to a diet of Mars bars can help boost the risks of type 2 diabetes and obesity. And at least from what I read, neither research group accounted for lifestyle factors outside the scope of the study. If it turns out that they happened to recruit a pack of retired marathon runners, then the results may not really apply to the rest of us.

But all that being said, I'm going to have some chocolate milk.

[Read more at New Scientist and ScienceDaily.]

Update 3/7/06: Apparently chocolate - or fudge, anyway - also has educational value, as a tool for teaching geology students about the properties of lava. (Seems scotch and rum are geologically educational, too.) Had I known that, I would have paid more attention in Geology 101!