Putting a new spin on the term 'beer gut,' a small study suggests that a bottle a day may do a man's gut bacteria some good.
— may boost gut microbe diversity. There is also evidence that fermented foods, like yogurt and kimchi, can do the same. For the new trial, Portuguese researchers wanted to test the effects of beer, which is a fermented extract of malted barley grains.
Beer also contains numerous plant compounds, called polyphenols, that may affect gut microbes, according to the researchers, who were led by Ana Faria of NOVA University Lisbon. Faria's team recruited 19 healthy men who were moderate drinkers and randomly assigned them to one of two groups. One group drank a bottle of lager beer with dinner every night for four weeks; the other drank a non-alcoholic version. Both groups were instructed to keep up their normal eating and exercise habits. Before and after that four-week period, the men provided stool samples for an analysis of their gut bacteria. Overall, the investigators found, both groups showed an increase in their microbe diversity, along with revved up activity in fecal alkaline phosphatase. The researchers said that can be an indicator of better intestinal function."This is a small study looking at the composition of gut microbes at the genus level," said Dr. Emeran Mayer of the UCLA Brain Gut Microbiome Center in Los Angeles. It did not look at measures of microbiome function, he added. That is not to dismiss the potential for beer to support a healthier gut. Mayer noted that consumption of hops, a plant used in beer brewing for aroma and bitterness, has been linked to health benefits. So it would be interesting, he said, for studies to look at whether microbiome changes are one mechanism. However, Mayer agreed that a healthy diet is the way to go. Trying to derive health benefits from a bottle of beer"is not a good idea," he said. Even if non-alcoholic beer has the potential to boost gut microbe diversity, Mayer worried that people would still"use it as an excuse to drink regular beer." "In general," he said,"a diet rich in a large variety of plant-based foods and naturally fermented products is the best way to increase gut microbial diversity."SOURCES: Emeran Mayer, MD, PhD, research professor, medicine, and director, G. Oppenheimer Center for Neurobiology of Stress and Resilience, University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine; Lauri Wright, PhD, RDN, assistant professor, chair, nutrition and dietetics, University of North Florida, Jacksonville, and spokeswoman, Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Chicago;
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