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Originally Posted by Tophat665
On the other hand, the so called French Paradox of long life and relatively good health while swilling red wine also holds true for beers made with dark grains. Evidently, the same antioxidents found in red grape skins are also present in roasted barley malts. Guinness is indeed good for you. Now, as for beer being fattening, much of the data that is used to show the amout of sugar in beer is calculated before the yeast has done its work. Now, a good beer will still have sugars in it, but they will be longer sugars - all the mono and disaccharides will have fermented out, and, with lagers, much of the trisaccharides too. So the peril of a diet rich in alcholic beverages is somewhat overstated, unless you decide to drink dessert wines, candy liqueurs, or the strongest, sweetest beers. There's a reason fat and stout and portly all mean roughly the same thing.  |
well, part of the french paradox also has to do with the fact they exercise a lot more than america. they actually walk from place to place instead of driving much more than in america.
on the topic question though, i really don't think one is necessarily better or worse than the other. a soft drink will have suger in it, beer will also have some carbohydrates in it. alcohol does slow down your metabolism and often eating goes on with drinking and you dont' really notice how much you eat.
drinking too much alcohol has it's obvious problems... getting really drunk and passing out, possibily hurting yourself due to lack of motor control, drinking and driving risks, longterm you're looking at liver problems if you abuse it. alcohol poisoning.
drinking too much pop can contribute to diabetes (the suger), or (according to some, but still unsubstantiated) cancer (diet pop- the aspartame) along with other aspartame related sensitivities, caffiene addiction (and the withdrawl sucks), cns disturbance with an overdose of caffiene.
in moderation, neither are really bad for you, and both can have benefits (the 'frence paradox' with alcohol and better heart health due to stress relief, caffiene will improve your alertness).