Wanna live a healthy life? Go have a beer.

We’ve all heard that drinking wine in moderation is good for you. What you probably didn’t know is that it’s been proven that beer can provide the same health benefits as wine. Studies now show that drinking beer in moderation will reduce your chances of strokes, as well as heart and vascular disease. Interestingly enough, the health value of beer has been known, documented and applied for centuries, but there are folks out there who don't want you to know about it (conspiracy alert).

Let's get ready to rumble!!!

When you compare the ingredients that go into wine and beer, you'll find that wine is made purely from grapes, water and yeast. Grapes are a fine source of sugars, fiber and chromium, but few of those things survive the fermentation and filtering process. Yeast has loads of complex B vitamins, but again, they do not appear in the final product due to filtering.

Beer, on the other hand, is made from grains, water and yeast. Grains commonly used are barley and wheat, both of which are loaded with a variety of vitamins that survive the fermentation and filtering process. And the vitamin value of the yeast is conserved in the hundreds of unfiltered beers that are on the market -- both on tap and in bottles.

Here are some interesting health-related facts about beer:

In November of 1999, The New England Journal of Medicine stated that light to moderate beer drinkers would decrease their chances of suffering a stroke by 20%. They also stated that those who drink one beer a day compared to those who drink one beer a week experience no difference in reducing stroke risks.

The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas (May 1999) reported that consuming moderate amounts of beer would lower one's chances of coronary heart disease by 30-40%, compared to those who don't drink at all. (Beer contains a similar amount of 'polyphenols' -- antioxidants -- as red wine and 4-5 times as many polyphenols as white wine).

Alcohol has also been attributed to increasing the amount of good cholesterol (HDL) in the bloodstream, as well as helping to decrease blood clots.

Beer contains vitamin B6, which prevents the build-up of the amino acid homocysteine, which has been linked to heart disease. Those of us who have high levels of homocysteine are usually more prone to an early onset of heart and vascular disease.

A new study performed at the TNO Nutrition and Food Research Institute in Utrecht indicates that those who drink beer had no increase in their homocysteine level, but those who drank wine or liquor had an increase of up to 10%.

Beer provides a 30% increase in vitamin B6 into the blood plasma -- something that neither wine nor any other liquor can do.

Beer is both fat-free and cholesterol-free.

Beer has a relaxing effect on the body thereby reducing stress and helping you sleep better.

Beer has proven to have positive effects on elderly people, promoting blood vessel dilation, sleep and urination.

Happy beer drinkers

Here’s what you’ll find in your average single-serving of beer:

-        0 mg cholesterol

-        0 g fat

-        13 g carbohydrate

-        25 mg sodium

-        protein, calcium, potassium, phosphorus, and vitamins B, B2, and B6

-        alcohol

It should be pointed out that beer is also linked to several negative health conditions, such as liver disease, obesity and alcoholism. The key to all of this is moderation. All of the adverse reactions of beer occur when people drink too much of it. Another way to offset the negative effects of beer is to exercise and eat right (which are good ideas towards living a healthy life anyways).

Here’s to craft-brewed happiness… Cheers!