A Recipe for Love – Raise a Mug or Two

They say when you drink enough of it (beer or love) you get intoxicated and begin to act stupid. However, beer is appropriate for initiating love as it is the potion of Isis, the goddess of matrimony and motherhood, and hops come from barley which is ruled by Venus the goddess of love.

Moderate consumption of alcohol, including beer, raises high-density lipoprotein or HDL, known as good cholesterol, says Dr. R. Curtis Ellison, chief of the section of preventive medicine and epidemiology and professor of medicine and public health at the Boston University School of Medicine. It also appears that drinking moderate amounts of alcohol has a favorable effect on the lining of blood vessels, making them less likely to form a clot or for a clot to rupture and plug an artery.

"People should realize that a little bit of alcohol on a regular basis decreases the risks of aging," says Ellison, who specializes in researching, among other things, the relationship between moderate alcohol consumption and chronic diseases.

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health released a study showing that frequent drinking in moderation may protect men from cardiovascular disease. Men who reported drinking 120 to 365 days a year had a 20% lower cardiovascular death rate than those who drank one to 36 days a year. Overdoing it, however, can have the opposite effect. Men who knocked back five or more drinks when they did indulge had a 30% greater risk for death via heart disease.

Beer may also boost your brain power. Adults over age 65 who drank one to six alcoholic beverages over the course of the week turned out to have a lower risk of dementia than non-drinkers or heavier drinkers, according to a 2003 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Likewise, a 2006 report that appeared in an American Heart Association journal showed that a drink or two a day might be linked to better cognitive function in women, as well as, it improved sexual functioning.

Hops have bioflavonoid with similar properties to oestrogens which may serve as a natural hormone replacement for women; estrogen is a precursor to vasopressin, a peptide that discourages sexual extremes and encourages monogamy.

In Zulu mythology, Mbaba Mwana Waresa is the Goddess of beer because it is believed that she created the first beer for human consumption. She is also known as the Goddess of rain and the rainbow. She is celebrated for her search of true love.

Ninkasi is the Ancient Sumerian Goddess of beer and brewing. It is said that she provided the world with the secret to making beer. In Sumerian culture, she is known for her power to satisfy human desire.

Desire and love…a mighty potion that should have us raising a mug or two!

Doctor Lynn