The President's Perspective: Study shows beer as healthiest evil

In the last week, I have spent at least one day in three different cities: Washington, D.C., Muncie and Salt Lake City, Utah, and I have spent significant hours on planes as I traveled during Fall Break, and then on to a national conference.

While attending the conference in Utah, I participated in a session by Dr. Linda Hancock of Virginia Commonwealth University entitled "How Lifestyle Choices Determine Human Health."

During the presentation, Dr. Hancock assessed the audience's understanding of five substances: Tylenol, Twinkies, eggs, beer and cigarettes, to educate on the toxicity and healthiness of each.

After great discussion, Tylenol was considered to be the most toxic because unlike the others, an ingested bottle could kill you as opposed to a pack of cigarettes or a case of beer.

It was not difficult to agree with the rationality of this ranking. However, I was most surprised to hear that beer was the healthiest of the five substances, on a list that included eggs.

According to Dr. Hancock, a beer a day was safer because it added to life by strengthening the liver. Smoking one cigarette a day could contribute to nicotine addiction, while eating one Twinkie a day expanded the waistline and an egg a day caused the accumulation of cholesterol. Still in disbelief, I took the info for what it was worth and downplayed its significance.

While cruising thirty thousand feet above land on my return from Utah to Indiana, I decided to pass the time reading the airlines signature magazine. To my astonishment, one of the featured articles revisited the healthiness of beer in "Take Two Beers and Call Me in the Morning."

In the article, over twenty years of research examined the effects of moderate alcohol consumption on health, as applied to longer living. The passage quickly stressed the importance of the word moderate, defined as roughly two 12-ounce servings of beer for men and one for women. According to the study, beer can lift ones spirits and protect against major ailments.

As one in pursuit of healthier living, it appeared that a beer a day could possibly keep the doctor away. Unfortunately, the science of these studies cannot be applied lightly. Many people lack the ability to restrict themselves to simply a beer a day and fall into the tendency to gradually increase the amount of beers consumed.

So, it would be ill-advised to trade in your daily glasses of milk and carrot juice for a cold brew, especially if you are under twenty-one.

However, if these health facts help you to greater health, more power to you!