Bounty

Women who drink at least five glasses of regular beer a week could be increasing their risk of the skin disease psoriasis, a US study has suggested.

According to researchers from Harvard Medical School, Boston, the link is apparent only with "non-light" beers and there is no impact from consuming other drinks such as low-calorie "light" beer, red and white wine and spirits.

They said the heightened risk could be because of gluten-containing starchy grains, such as barley, in beer. Gluten present in starch sources are known to be associated with psoriasis.

Light beers also contain gluten, but smaller quantities of grain are used in their fermentation than regular beers, the researchers said.

The findings, published in the Archives of Dermatology, are based on data gathered from a large-scale study involving 83,000 nurses.

Study leader Dr Abrar Qureshi and colleagues wrote in the journal: "Non-light beer was the only alcoholic beverage that increased the risk of psoriasis, suggesting that certain non-alcoholic components of beer, which are not found in wine or liquor, may play an important role in new-onset psoriasis.

"One of these components may be the starch source used in making beer. Beer is one of the few non-distilled alcoholic beverages that use a starch source for fermentation, which is commonly barley."

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