The Best and Worst Beers for Your Health

Drinking beer can be beneficial, but it can also be destructive. To help you form healthy drinking habits, here are the best and worst beers for your health.
The Best and Worst Beers for Your Health

 

The Best and Worst Beers for Your HealthDrinking beer provides some benefits to your body, but there are also plenty of negative effects. If you're a light beer drinker, you likely reap more advantages than disadvantages. A day can protect against stroke, coronary artery disease, dementia, and other diseases, and can even help with weight loss—which means no more beer belly. If you're drinking three or more drinks a day, on the other hand, you should ensure that what you drink is on the healthier side. Otherwise, you’ll face an increased risk of obesity.

Unfortunately, the amount of beer you drink isn't the only factor that determines whether your habits are healthy or not. The type of drink that you're drinking, the frequency of your drinking, and your mental health and attitude toward alcohol can also impact the healthiness and sustainability of your drinking habits. Just because you drink less doesn't necessarily mean you're healthier than someone who drinks more. The person that just downed five cans in a row might drink infrequently, drink healthier kinds of beer, or have a better attitude toward alcohol in general. Some beers are healthier than others. A low-calorie beer might be packed with sugar, while one that's higher in calories might provide a larger amount of beneficial nutrients. This makes determining the healthiest kinds of beer difficult, especially if you don't know what to look for. Luckily, we're here to help. Let's check out some of the best and worst beers for your health, so you can start making informed choices and enjoying your beers more responsibly.

The Worst Beers

Whether they're full of calories, carbs, or sugar, these are some of the worst beers for your health:

Bud Light Straw-Ber-Ita

If you're a huge fan of sweeter, fruitier drinks, the Bud Light Straw-Ber-Ita might appeal to you. It has strawberries in the name, so it must be healthy, right? Unfortunately, healthy isn't the best word to describe the Straw-Ber-Ita. In an eight-ounce serving, you'll get a whole lot of sugar, carbs, and calories. If you're planning to drink more than one drink, we recommend avoiding this sugar-packed treat.

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale

It's delicious, so we can't blame you for wanting to indulge. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is popular, but it’s not the healthiest beer out there. In a single can, you'll find 175 calories and 16.9 grams of carbs. While there's nothing wrong with drinking this beer once and a while, you might want to consider going for a jog afterward.

Corona Extra

Corona Extra might taste light and refreshing, but the flavor is actually a well-crafted deception. It's all in the name: there's extra flavor, but there are also a ton of extra calories and carbs. There are 148 calories and 14 grams of carbs in each bottle, making Corona Extra one of the unhealthier beers you can have.

Dos Equis

Dos is the Spanish word for two. That means you're not going to be stopping at uno. Two bottles of Dos Equis are worth 262 calories and 22 grams of carbs, which translates into 131 calories and 11 grams of carbs if you're planning on forsaking the name and only having one. If you want to avoid the infamous beer belly, it's better to avoid this two-faced beer.

Hoegaarden

Hoegaarden is a beer that pairs excellently with dinner. But with 148 calories per bottle and 10.8 grams of carbs, three or more of these equals a second dinner. If you had the choice between a few beers and another delicious, juicy steak, which would you choose? Pick out a different, lighter beer instead.

The Best Beers

If you're looking for something low in calories and sugars and bursting with healthy nutrients, these beers are some of the best:

Bud Select 55

Bud Select 55 is one of the lightest beers there is, with only 55 calories and 1.8 grams of carbs per 12-ounce serving. It’s a golden lager brewed with caramel malt and a blend of hops. Most people aren't raving about its taste, unfortunately, but it's meant to be healthy—not one of the best beers in the nation. You can only ask for so much.

Beck's Premier Light

Beck's Premier Light is a European beer brewed in Germany and imported to the United States. It has an impressively low number of calories and carbs—64 and four grams per 12-ounce bottle, respectively. It has a fruitier flavor like many other light beers, and has a lower ABV than most—only 2.3 percent.

Natural Light

Natural Light, also known as Natty Light, is an American-style lager with a crisp, light, and malty taste. It has 95 calories and 3.2 grams of carbs per can. If you want a sweeter, fruitier alternative to Natural Light, you can try out Naturdays. Just keep in mind that these varieties have a slightly higher calorie and carb count.

Corona Light

Unlike Corona Extra, Corona Light isn't packed with a whole lot extra. Like Corona Extra, the details are all in the name. This pilsner-style lager is on the lighter side, with only 99 calories a bottle and five grams of carbs. It has a fruity, honey aroma and pairs well with citrus, making it a perfect drink for summertime.

Miller Lite

Miller Lite was one of the first popular beers brewed to be low-calorie. A single 12-ounce can or bottle has 96 calories and only 3.2 grams of carbs, fewer than most low-calorie beers. This beer has a light, refreshing, and citrusy flavor, which makes it another great beer for summer barbecues and lounging on the beach.

What have we learned from this list of the best and worst beers for your health? If you're looking for a lighter, healthier beer, the ones that feature the word "light" or proudly boast the number of calories in their name are a pretty good bet. And while light beers aren't known for their taste, they're great if you feel like drinking just for the sake of drinking. Save the better, tastier beers for bigger occasions.

When you're drinking your beer, it doesn't hurt to be comfortable. Greater Half's patriotic golf shirts are the perfect thing to wear whenever you're indulging in a heavy beer, going the healthier route with a light one, or strolling through the store and browsing through the options. Come and shop with us today!

The Best and Worst Beers for Your Health