Want healthier BBQ? Just add beer. No really. Science saves the day, one backyard at a time.

Red wine

It seems every other day a study comes out either for or against drinking wine. Good news, winos: here's one that goes in the "for" pile. Researchers claim that red wine can have a positive effect on your teeth.



The study, published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, claims that red wine and grape seed extracts can help remove potentially harmful bacteria from your teeth.



Before you pour yourself another glass in the name of good dental hygiene, it's worth noting that scientists haven't figured out yet if there is a link between drinking wine and less cavities.



Keep clicking to see what other so-called vices actually can do you some good.

less Red wine

It seems every other day a study comes out either for or against drinking wine. Good news, winos: here's one that goes in the "for" pile. Researchers claim that red wine can have a positive effect on ... more Image 1 of / 26 Caption Close Want healthier BBQ? Just add beer. 1 / 26 Back to Gallery

Want healthier barbeque? Just add beer. A new study is saying just that, further proving that science rocks.

But there's a catch: you can't just drink the stuff; you have to marinate your meat in it for a couple of hours.

The study, which was published in American Chemical Society's Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, says that meat marinated in certain beers can negate some of the harmful effects that can occur when meat is grilled.

Previous studies have shown a link between grilled meats and colorectal cancer. It boils down to the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which is science jargon for potentially cancerous substances that can form when meats are cooked at very high temperatures.

It's been known that beer, wine or tea marinades can reduce these levels of some potential carcinogens in cooked meat, but little was known about how different beer marinades affect PAH levels.

That is, until now.

Researchers studied samples of pork that had been marinated for four hours in Pilsner beer, non-alcoholic Pilsner beer and a black beer ale, which was then cooked well-done on a charcoal grill. In the end, black beer yielded the best result. It reduced the levels of eight major PAHs by more than half when compared to unmarinated pork.

"Thus, the intake of beer marinated meat can be a suitable mitigation strategy," the researchers said in a statement.

Bottoms up!