eli5: How come alcohol doesn’t have the health benefits that other fermented foods have?

Question

eli5: How come alcohol doesn’t have the health benefits that other fermented foods have?

In: 1

Answer 1

Fermented foods have alcohol in them because bacteria eat up the sugars in the food and produce alcohol. These bacteria arent removed so whenever you eat the fermented food, you consume some of that bacteria. That’s what gived you the health benefits, the bacteria adds to your body microbiome or produces some compound that has a net benefit. Basically it’s a probiotic.

Pure alcohol is just that. Nothing else added to it. The alcohol is made by yeast, and the yeast is separated from the final product. That’s why there’s no added health benefit. Its basically alcohol in water with some additives, your body will process the alcohol, give you the depressive effects, and then eventually excrete the metabolites.