Main objectives: The aims of the present study are: To carry out a systematic revision of the printed literature on beer consumption and its possible effects on human health. To analyze the possibility of applying techniques used in epidemiological studies considering meta-analysis as the most important element. Meta-analysis is a set of different statistical techniques that aim to get a quantitative and qualitative synthesis of the results of different independent studies on the same subject.
Methods: First we proceed to carry out the bibliographical search and compilation by means of the following Date-Bases: Medline, Embase and Toxline. Beer is used as key word, specifying the time period between January, 1998 and May, 2000. A total of 403 reference works are obtained and subjected to the corresponding criteria of inclusion and exclusion.
Results: The meta-analysis of the selected studies related to cardiovascular disease provides an OR of 0.89 (0.89-0.97) which shows that the group of risk falls ill in less cases than the non-exposed.
Conclusions: Beer consumption: possible factor of cardiovascular protection. Nevertheless we must take this consideration with as much caution as possible. It is necessary to determine the effects of beer consumption on the Spanish population.