Call for a CELEBRATION with Beers!

This piece is a cut and paste from an email sent by a friend.

It's fairly common knowledge that beer has a relaxing effect on the body and can reduce stress, but there are a myriad of other health benefits of this potent potable that are not as apparent at your local happy hour. There has never been better reason to enjoy a cold one.

Beer is good for your heart.
A Dutch study conducted by TNO Nutrition and Food Research found that a known reference for predicting future cardiovascular disease, blood C-reactive protein (CRP), declined by 35% after three weeks of regular beer consumption compared with levels after three weeks of drinking non-alcoholic beer. The same study found that levels of HDL or "good" cholesterol rose by 11% during the same period. Beer also contains vitamin B6, which prevents the build-up of an amino acid called homocysteine that has been linked to heart disease.

Beer will reduce the chance of stroke.
One drink a day for women or up to two drinks a day for men will reduce your chances of strokes, heart and vascular disease. Strokes are the third-leading cause of death in the U.S. and the leading cause of serious, long-term disabilities. It is said that light to moderate drinkers will decrease their chances of suffering a stroke by 20 percent.

You should give your grandma a beer.
Don't load her up a beer bong yet or take her to "kill a keg" night at your local pub, but in moderation, beer has been proven to have positive effects on elderly people. It helps promote blood vessel dilation, sleep and urination.

Beer is good for breasts.
Research by scientists at the Universidade do Porto in Portugal found that polyphenols in wine and beer appeared to decrease breast cancer cells significantly. Numerous other experiments have shown that certain polyphenols, mainly flavonoids, can protect against heart disease and have anticancer, antiviral and antiallergic properties. The Portuguese study concluded that xanthohumol, which is found in beer, was the most potent polyphenol over breast cancer cell growth; it showed its effect more rapidly and at a lower concentration than the others.

Beer could save the Three Blind Mice.
John Trevithick, Ph.D., and Maurice Hirst, Ph.D., of the University of Western Ontario, conducted a study that suggests beer reduced the incidence of cataracts in mice (but increased their propensity to "go wild" and get tattoos they'll regret later in life -- my own inference). If the same cataract protection occurs in humans, it would be especially beneficial to people with diabetes.

"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy."