Study: Dark beer
better for heart
A Wisconsin scientist
has found that dark beer
may be better for the heart
than its lighter counterpart
By John Fauber
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (KRT)
ORLANDO, Fla. — Like chocolate
and wine, the darker the beer, the
better it may be for your heart, ac
cording to a new study.
in a comparison of Guinness
Stout, a dark beer, and Heineken, a
light beer, the darker brew had sub
stantially more anti-clotting activity,
according to a University of Wiscon
sin-Madison scientist who presented
his findings Tuesday at the American
Heart Association annual meeting.
Guinness proved to be about
twice as effective at preventing the
blood platelets from clumping and
forming the kind of clot that can
cause a heart attack, according to the
study's main author, John Folts, a
professor of medicine and nutrition
al director of the University of Wis
consin Coronary Thrombosis Re
search and Vascular Biology
Laboratory.
The beneficial effect comes from
flavonoids in the beer. Flavonoids
are anti-oxidant compounds that
provide the dark color in many fruits
and vegetables. There are hundreds
of flavonoids in beer, Folts said.
Flavonoids also work to prevent
the oxidation of cholesterol, which
plays a role in causing atherosclero
sis — known as hardening of the ar
teries. They also help arteries to di
late, which improves blood flow and
blood pressure, he said.
Folts did his research in test tube
studies and on eight dogs.
He said a person would have to
reach a blood alcohol level of 0.06
in order to get the optimal anti-clot
ting effect. He said that for the typi
cal person, that could be accom
plished with two, 12-ounce bottles.
However, doctors warned that
even though dark beer may have
heart-healthy properties, it also has
a downside that could negate any
benefit: extra calories.
Dark chocolate and red wine have
similar properties, but they also pro
vide extra calories, and obesity is a
risk factor for heart disease.
"The bottom line is obesity is a
major problem," said Alice Lichten
stein, a professor of nutrition at
Tufts University and vice chairman
of the American Heart Association's
nutrition committee. "People need
to worry about energy' balance."
She added that those foods may
have a lot of potentially beneficial
components, but it's not well known
which ones are the most beneficial.
Until the actual active compounds are
identified, she said can't recommend
one food or beverage over another.
"There is such a range of dark beer
and wines," she said. "There is such vari
ation in the composition. It may be that
it's not all dark beer (that's beneficial)."
Variation in the beneficial compo
nents could be due to diverse factors
ranging from storage conditions to
growing conditions, she said.
However, Ronald Korthuis, a pro
fessor of physiology at the Louisiana
State University Health Sciences
Center, said Folts' research bolsters
epidemiological studies suggesting
that alcoholic beverages can reduce
heart attacks.
"What is impressive about Dr.
Folts' observations is that the
flavonoids in dark beer produce
anti-platelet effects that rival those
of aspirin," Korthuis said.
By understanding how these bev
erages work, it may be possible to
develop therapies that mimic alco
hol's beneficial properties, "but do
not produce the unwanted negative
social and pathophysiological ef
fects," he said.
Folts said his goal is to isolate
those compounds and put them
into a pill.
In the meantime, he has at least
one more study in mind.
"We'd like to do a study and have
people drink dark beer for two
weeks and drink two weeks of light
colored beer," he said. "We haven't
found anybody interested in fund
ing that."
(c) 2003, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune
Information Services.
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