Your pint could come with a surprising health benefit

Your pint could come with a surprising health benefit20 minutes agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleMichelle RobertsDigital health editorGetty ImagesDrinking the odd pint of beer can provide "substantial levels" of an essential brain-boosting vitamin in your diet, according to new research in a respected journal. The vitamin B6 is good for the brain, blood and immune system and is found in a wide variety of foods.A beer "serving" might meet around 15% of your daily B6 requirement, the authors say, and even alcohol-free lager could have the same effect.Many of the raw ingredients used to make beer, including barley, wheat and brewer's yeast, contain vitamin B6 and the brewing process doesn't kill it all off, research suggests.B6 is an essential nutrient that we get through food. Good sources of B6 are meat and fish, but it's also present in other foods, including porridge oats, potatoes and chickpeas. Many breakfast cereals have added B6 too.Being truly deficient in B6 is rare, although sometimes levels can be a bit low, often alongside a lack of other B vitamins, such as B12, which can leave you feeling tired and nauseous. The study, which tested 65 different beers bought from local supermarkets in Germany, found:Bock beer had the highest B6 content followed by lagers, dark lagers, and wheat beersRice beers had the least B6 contentNon-alcoholic beers with their ethanol removed after full fermentation had higher vitamin B6 levels than those made using yeasts that produce less ethanolAn average lager in the study provided 20% of recommended dietary allowance for vitamin B6 One of the non-alcoholic lagers they tested provided nearly 59%Men need about 1.4mg a day and women 1.2mg of vitamin B6, according to the NHS. A litre of beer can contain anywhere between 0.3mg and 1mg, the research suggests.If you stick within recommended alcohol limits, that's not enough for regulators to allow you to put a sticker on the front of a bottle...