Beer is good for your bones
Researchers have found that beer contained a substance that boosts bones and could reduce the risk of osteoporosis. Beer contains high levels of silicon known to slow down the bone thinning that leads to fractures and boosting the formation of new bone.
Studies have shown that silicon can aid bone growth, and that moderate beer drinking increases bone density. Charles Bamforth and Troy Casey at the University of California, Davis, have discovered how much silicon each type of beer contains. The pair found that lighter-coloured beers made from pale malted barley and with a greater use of hops, such as pale ales, are richest in silicon, while low-alcohol beers contain the least, along with stouts, porters, and wheat beers. Beer contains silicon in the form of orthosilicic acid (OSA), up to half of which can be absorbed by the body making beer a major contributor to silicon intake. The study was published in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/7168666/Beer-boosts-bones-and-fends-off-osteoporosis.html
Theory: Thirst for Beer Sparked Civilization
Alcohol could have been a catalyst for human civilization, when man decided to start farming, according to archaeologist Patrick McGovern. Humans may have turned from hunting and gathering to agriculture as the result of an urge for alcoholic beverages. "Alcohol provided the initial motivation," said McGovern, a biomolecular archaeologist at the University of Pennsylvania Museum. "Then it got going the engine of society." Why not make bread instead of beer? McGovern said beer was simply easier to make. "Alcohol was always present right from the beginning," McGovern said, adding that early man also relied on the beverage for rituals and medicinal purposes. In a new book, titled Uncorking the Past: The Quest for Wine, Beer and Other Alcoholic Beverages, he further the details his research on the history of alcohol brewing.
"Õlu on elu," the Estonians say -- "Beer is Life."
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