We always hear about how moderate wine-drinking is good for you. What about beer?

Turns out beer is good for you, too, a new study tells us — maybe even better than wine. In moderation.

Conducted at the Research Laboratories at the Fondazione di Ricerca e Cura "Giovanni Paolo II" in Campobasso, Italy, the study examined data concerning the alcohol-drinking habits of more than 200,000 people and their relation with cardiovascular disease. The study is published in the most recent issue of the European Journal of Epidemiology: http://bit.ly/snSv2A (abstract only).

The researchers found that beer reduced the risk of cardiovascular disease by up to 42 percent; the wine study they compared it to had shown a risk reduction of 31 percent.

Portions, though, play a big part. Maximum health benefits come from drinking a little more than 1 pint per day of beer with a 5 percent alcohol content.

The next question is: Why would this be? The researchers don't know how much of a role the alcohol plays vs. other ingredients. Many of the wine-is-good-for-you studies tout the presences of resveratrol, a chemical found in grapes.

Beer doesn't have resveratrol, the researchers say, but it does have other polyphenols that may be healthful.