Drinking alcohol that’s not red wine isn’t really seen as healthy by the general public. But a South Carolina centenarian is proving these assumptions wrong.
Here’s some good news to people who just love a glass of cold brew. As it turns out, drinking can have surprising health benefits that might even help you increase your lifespan.
Just a few weeks shy of her 103rd birthday, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina resident Mildred Bowers made the news because of how she chose to celebrate this new life milestone. Millie, as she is called by her friends, went down to a local pub to have a pint of her favorite drink: beer.
And she wasn’t shy about revealing that the beverage has also been her secret to a long life, saying in an interview,
Fortunately, the assisted living facility Millie lives in has no qualms complying with these orders. In fact, she is allowed to drink one beer a day and even encourages her fellow seniors to do so as well if they like it.
Looking at Millie and her lively spirit at the age of 103, they better try out her advice, too.
What’s more, there seems to be quite a wealth of scientific studies that corroborate Millie’s doctor’s orders.
In a study done at Pennsylvania State University, it was found that downing a pint (or even two) of beer a day helps in reducing people’s risk of suffering from a stroke and cardiovascular disease.
The research studied around 80,000 Chinese adults and figured out that alcohol, with beer being the most visibly effective, helps in slowing down the decline of good cholesterol.
Meanwhile, a different study, this time by the American Stroke Association and Harvard Medical School, shows similar results. Compared to non-drinkers, people who enjoy beer in moderate amounts has cut the risk of getting a stroke by as much as fifty percent.
Apparently, the alcoholic beverage helps in making the body’s arteries more flexible which then enables blood to flow better. This counters the common type of stroke, ischaemic stroke, that happens when blood clots block the flow of oxygen and blood to one of the body’s most important organ: the brain.
If you remain unconvinced still, then this similar story of a 110-year-old New Jersey woman might just convert you into an occasional beer drinker.
Like Millie, Agnes Fenton loves drinking a cold one on the regular. In fact, she drinks three Miller High Lifes together with a shot of scotch (her favorite brand is Johnnie Walker Blue Label) daily.
The habit was also approved by the doctor she saw for the only serious health concern she’s ever had in her more than a century on earth. Apparently, Agnes once discovered a benign tumor, and she’s been following the doctor’s orders since.
A report from the Thrillist even claims that she’s been downing her beer cocktails for seventy years.
It’s worth noting that Agnes eventually had to stop her habit as her caregivers have decided it’s no longer appropriate. Fortunately, she might get a shot of her favorite drink once again to celebrate her birthday.
