The health benefits of moderate wine drinking have been well-documented, significantly lowering a person’s chances of heart disease with a glass a day. However, a University in Italy has recently uncovered similar benefits to moderate beer drinking. However, the two types of alcoholic drinks are very different chemically, and since the benefits of wine were largely attributed to tannins, or reservatol, or other non-alcohol qualities, this recent development has experts wondering if maybe it is the alcohol that’s heart healthy.

Researchers at Italy’s Fondazione di Ricerca e Cura have compiled a number of studies over the last several years on the health benefits of moderate beer consumption. The meta-analysis, boasting a data set of over 200,000 people, shows that moderate beer drinking carries almost the same cardiovascular health benefit that moderate wine drinking does; 31% better heart health over non-drinkers. Moderate beer consumption, according to the researchers, would be one pint of 5% ABV beer every day, compared to one 12 oz. glass of red wine.

The health benefits of beer drinking are not entirely understood, as previously it was assumed that wine’s health benefits were in spite of its alcohol content. However, the analysis of health benefits were so similar that it creates new questions about whether it’s non-alcoholic ingredients, or the alcohol itself, that’s conferring better heart health. In fact, according to the researchers, even the curve of benefits to health hazards as drinking increases is similar. Author Simonza Costanzo explains that as drinking became more heavy the benefits seemed to disappear and health risks began to appear, at almost the same rate for both. ”There were 12 [studies] in which wine and beer consumption could be compared directly. Using these data we were able to observe that the risk curves for the two beverages are closely overlapping.”

The data is highly correlative, and may indicate less about the beverages themselves and more about the lifestyle of people that engage in low to moderate drinking; people that exercise or have less sedentary habits than those that do not drink or those that drink heavily. It may also be a social factor, in that people that drink moderately may have more active social lives, which have also been tied to health benefits.

Whatever the reason for these results, I’m pleased to know that I can consider my first drink of the evening my “daily medicine”, though may have a more difficult time justifying the ones that come after it.