Excerpt of an interview on Belgian TV:

(VRT Flemish Television) Is there a difference between your preferred drink? It’s generally supposed that red wine is healthier than any other kind of alcohol.
Prof. Ivo De Leeuw (endocrinologist, Antwerp University Hospital): All that red wine stuff is based on sort-of weighty studies, in the big wine-growing countries such as - surprise, surprise - France, that would give us to understand that regular, daily, consumption of red wine has a beneficial effect as regards reduction of the risk of cardiovascular disease.
Well, now we discover that the stuff responsible for those effects belong to a category referred to as anti-oxidants and flavonoids. Lo and behold! The same substances are present in other alcoholic beverages, such as beer. Speaking of beer, beer is even richer in certain of these substances. Thanks to the lovely hops. (www.beerandhealth.com)
Newsletter August / September 2002