If you’re going to drink, make sure to make it a whiskey neat. Surprisingly, drinking a moderate amount of bourbon may have a positive impact on your health.
Raise your glass to these nine health benefits of enjoying a glass of bourbon.
Weight Loss
While drinking whiskey should not substitute a healthy diet and exercise, studies have shown that it can help with weight loss. Bourbon, compared to other alcohol choices, has a much lower calorie count, little sugar, no carbs and only 100 calories.
However, to reap the weight loss benefits make sure you are not adding unnecessary mixers.
Reduces Stress
It comes as no surprise that drinking a swig of bourbon is known to calm nerves and reduce stress by slowing activity. After a long hard day, we would say you deserve a relaxing drink.
Controls Diabetes
In a study done by Harvard, it was found that Bourbon can help defend against type-2 diabetes. The study found a 30% reduced risk of type-2 diabetes in those who drank Bourbon moderately.
As whiskey is aged in wooden barrels, it produces ellagic acid (potent antioxidant) which regulates your insulin levels and the levels of glucose your liver releases – helping to keep your blood sugar in check.
Promotes Healthy Cholesterol Levels
There is good and bad cholesterol, and both must be monitored. The good cholesterol, or high-density lipoprotein (HDL), increases when you consume whiskey. It also prevents the build-up of bad cholesterol which, if left unchecked, can develop into atherosclerosis.
Prevents Heart Disease
Drinking a moderate amount of bourbon per week lowers the risk of cardiovascular disease in men and women. It applies to those who do not have heart disease as well as those who are currently at risk of developing cardiovascular disease.
The antioxidants present in whiskey supply a needed boost while also absorbing damaging phenolic compounds present in your body.
Reduces Risk of Cancer
The ellagic acid in bourbon helps prevent our DNA from connecting with cancer-causing compounds, such as nitrosamines. Ellagic acid is a potent antioxidant that develops as the bourbon ages in wooden barrels. This antioxidant does more than fight the free radicals present in our bodies; they also prevent these radicals from forming. In fact, whiskey has more ellagic acid than wine.
Boosts Immune Function
You may have heard the old wives’ tale that a shot of whiskey or drinking a Hot Toddy helps with colds. However, unlike other questionable home remedies, this one has some truth to it. Bourbon dilates the blood vessels acting as a decongestant, while the rest of the ingredients have properties that help alleviate cold symptoms. Plus, the antioxidants present in the whiskey help give your immune system a much-needed boost.
Boosts Cognitive Performance
A 2003 study published by the NIH (National Institutes of Health) shows that the antioxidants in whiskey increases cognitive performance while simultaneously lowering the risk of developing Alzheimer’s or Dementia. The study further showed that non-drinkers and heavy drinkers are more likely to develop dementia than adults who drink between 1-6 portions of Bourbon per week.
Reduced Hangover Symptoms
While all spirits will leave you with a hangover if you over-indulge, Bourbon will leave you with a milder hangover than most. Studies have shown that whisky drinkers reported the least amount of hangover symptoms and recover quicker than alcohol drinkers who prefer other spirits.
Awesome benefits of drinking bourbon 🥃
Wonderful news.
Good Evening, I am so glad I read your script on Bourbon, what an eye opener, I always purchase “Western Gold” 3 year old straight Kentucky Bourbon from my local supermarket, where jokingly to the checkout staff I call this “my medicine” at 76 years old this certainly removes my aches and pains. Should be used in Hospitals as a liquid anaesthetic. The name “Bourbon” should be changed to “Nectar or the Gods” Thank you so much for this valuable information, I will relay this to my best friend and “Wingman” in Switzerland with immediate effect. We use to drink “Wild Turkey 101” but a bit like Aviation fuel, no much was required before we were both up on the ceiling. A dangerous game as neither of us had a Pilots licence.
Kind Regards from Warrington, Cheshire, England.
I Love wild turkey 101!!! And I have heart issues and I’m going to drink it couple of times a week!!!!
@Billy Boland The word whiskey comes from the Irish “uisce beatha”which means water of life, so although it’s not called “Nectar of the Gods”, it’s quite close.
Amen. 101 is very good Bourbon. Try Buffalo Trace sometime.
God I wish my wife would read this
This is great news!
I would rather have a bottle in front of me. Than to have to have a frontal lobotomy. I’ve been drinking good bourbon whiskey since 1975. Forty seven years proves the song lyrics above. The Irish called Moonshine, ” the water of life”. Prohibition only proved mankind’s Need for strong alcohol.
I’ve been told booze is a great servant… but a lousy master and I agree!
I’m a Sommelier and seven years ago I started to suffer from sever chronic migraines… so no more wine… it gutted me, but migraines are agony. So I stared to drink bourbon because, like wine. Bourbon it has different aromas and flavor profiles like wine. I drink it straight with an ice cube and a splash of water… and a glass of water on the side. I never get drunk, just a nice lite buzz going, and I don’t get hangovers like I do with wine. I sip it and enjoy the beautiful aromas and flavors. I encourage my 24 year old son to drink bourbon. He’d come hope SO drunk on beers and have a mega hangover. It saves him a lot of money and his friends think he’s cool!
LOL… CHEERS
Cool, no health issues and how much a night?
It would be interesting to know if anyone has done a study to determine if proof level has any effect on caloric intake.
Yes it certainly does
Have been drinking Bourbon for most of my adult life, never to excess. at 75 I feel i’m doing well. Minimum health problems and good mental health.
After reading your presentation on the benefits of drinking bourbon (moderately of course) I applied to my healthcare provider to see if they would cover the cost of my newly found medicine. I tried to use your article as proof (no pun intended) that I could live longer with fewer costly ailments, and enjoy that peacefully easy feeling that promotes general welfare. They must be taking this seriously because they are taking a long time to answer my request.
Love the smoky flavour and has to be on the rocks . I have it now and then, not too often.
I love drinking Bourbon!
I drink Knob Creek 100 proof. It relaxes me at night and helps me sleep better!! I make my own
Manhattan’s and they are
delicious!
I drink Bourbon at the end of the day before dinner. I fill the glass with ice to the top of the glass and then put bourbon in the glass about two-thirds of the way to the top. I drink three of those before dinner and then eat, watch tb and go to bed. So far at age 77 I’m OK and can do most chores around the home, including cutting the lawn, painting now and then, and making repairs that are necessary. Last July, I put a new cedar roof on my front porch which is not steep. I worked in the morning and usually quit when the sun came around. Though I did carry the shingles up the stairs of our home and put them out the window onto the porch roof, and then climbed the ladder outside and worked on the roof.
What is a reasonable recommended limit or advisable amount to reap the benefits but not risk going to much? How many drinks and how much bourbon in each drink in ounces? Thank you very much. I may have missed it but I did not see the recommended amount based on the study results.
Nurse – please remove these tubes and bring me a bourbon, neat. After reading this article, I now have the will to live!
Such wonderful news. A family heritage and good news all around 😅
I love a drink or Angle Envy very expensive but a drink every now and then helps with my breathing. Matter of fact I’ve been told I have copd when I drink this it really helps me breath better.
After seeing a trend with men living past 100 having a glass of bourbon in the afternoon I started drinking one glass myself. I think there is much to it, but I also believe it loses its benefit beyond drinking one glass a day. Simply put less is actually more.
I’ll drink to that!
Very glad to hear one straight shot no ice no water Jim Beam before lunchtime
I love my Four Roses bourbon did drink beer most of my life bourbon helps me breath and sleep great I’m 65 Bottoms up
Just had a complete cardio checkup at 61 years of age, echocardiogram, extensive blood work, nuclear stress test, all came out normal, Doctor was very pleased with results, I do drink 1-2 drinks of Jim Beam Extra Aged Black each evening with a Coke Zero, must be working for sure based on my results and these 9 benefits!
I’ll drink to that !
Beam on ice here. Drink to get drunk, 3- 4 times a month, teetotal betwixt bouts. Never seen the point in social drinking myself, and I’ve tried it.
Lost 23 pounds so far this year but didn’t change above bourbon imbibing m.o. at all. I know I wouldn’t be reporting weight loss truthfully if I had been getting drunk on Budweiser instead of Beam.