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Review
. 2021 Mar 9;13(3):879.
doi: 10.3390/nu13030879.

Moderate Consumption of Beer and Its Effects on Cardiovascular and Metabolic Health: An Updated Review of Recent Scientific Evidence

Ascensión Marcos  1 , Lluís Serra-Majem  2   3 , Francisco Pérez-Jiménez  2   4 , Vicente Pascual  5 , Francisco José Tinahones  2   6 , Ramón Estruch  2   7
Affiliations
Review

Moderate Consumption of Beer and Its Effects on Cardiovascular and Metabolic Health: An Updated Review of Recent Scientific Evidence

Ascensión Marcos et al. Nutrients. .

Abstract

There is growing interest in the potential health-related effects of moderate alcohol consumption and, specifically, of beer. This review provides an assessment of beer-associated effects on cardiovascular and metabolic risk factors to identify a consumption level that can be considered "moderate". We identified all prospective clinical studies and systematic reviews that evaluated the health effects of beer published between January 2007 and April 2020. Five of six selected studies found a protective effect of moderate alcohol drinking on cardiovascular disease (beer up to 385 g/week) vs. abstainers or occasional drinkers. Four out of five papers showed an association between moderate alcohol consumption (beer intake of 84 g alcohol/week) and decreased mortality risk. We concluded that moderate beer consumption of up to 16 g alcohol/day (1 drink/day) for women and 28 g/day (1-2 drinks/day) for men is associated with decreased incidence of cardiovascular disease and overall mortality, among other metabolic health benefits.

Keywords: alcohol; diabetes; moderate drinking; mortality; obesity; osteoporosis.

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Conflict of interest statement

R.E. reports grants from Spanish Institute of Health “Carlos III” (Spain), Cerveza y Salud (Spain), Fundación Dieta Mediterranea (Spain), and grants from Bicentury SA (Spain), Grand Fountaine (Spain), Novartis SA (Spain), and Uriach Laboratories (Spain). He is also a member of the Cerveza y Salud Scientific Committee. Further, personal fees for given lectures from Brewers of Europe (Belgium), Fundacion Cerveza y Salud (Spain), Pernaud-Ricard (Mexico), Instituto Cervantes (Alburquerque, USA), Instituto Cervantes (Milan, Italy), Instituto Cervantes (Tokyo, Japan), Lilly Laboratories (Spain), Prodeca—Generalitat de Catalunya (Spain), Wine and Culinary International, International Forum (Spain), and non-financial support from Harvard School of Public Health (Boston, USA), Columbia University (NYC, USA), ERAB (Belgium), Fundació Clinic (Spain), and Fundació Bosch i Gimpera (Spain). A.M. reports having received research funding from the Cerveza y Salud Information Centre, the Spanish arm of European Brewers Association, and being a member of the Cerveza y Salud Scientific Committee. F.J.T. reports having received speaker’s bureau and consultant/advisory board fees from Cerveza y Salud, AstraZeneca, Amgen, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly and Company, GlaxoSmithKline, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Merck Sharpe & Dohme, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Co., Novo Nordisk, Sanofi, and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, L.S.-M., V.P., F.J.P.-J. declare not to have competing interests.

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