Study shows that beer 'helps people shake off sex shyness'

UK: A psychological study has shown that beer appears to make people less shy about sex - especially women. Scientists discovered that drinking beer made it easier for volunteers to view explicit sexual images, with the effect greater for women than for men. But no change was however seen in levels of sexual arousal.

Another effect of beer drinking was a boost in positive behaviour.

To carry out the study, the researchers recruited 60 healthy volunteers between the age of 18 to 50 and gave half of them a half litre glass of alcoholic beer while the remaining participants were given non-alcoholic beer.

The volunteers were then asked to perform series of tasks including a face recognition test.

After drinking half a litre of beer, test showed that study volunteers were more attracted to happy faces and social situations.

The findings go some way towards giving an explanation for "beer goggles" - a slang term used to describe how the influence of alcohol can make an unattractive person appear beautiful.
Head researcher Professor Matthias Liechti, from Basel University Hospital in Switzerland, said: 

"The effect of many medications and substances of abuse have been tested on various tests of emotion processing and social cognition.

"However, although many people drink beer and know its effects through personal experience, there is surprisingly little scientific data on its effects on the processing of emotional social information.

"We found that drinking a glass of beer helps people see happy faces faster, and enhances concern for positive emotional situations.

"Alcohol also facilitates the viewing of sexual images, consistent with disinhibition, but it does not actually enhance sexual arousal."

Professor Wim van den Brink, from the University of Amsterdam, said it was an interesting study confirming the traditional knowledge that alcohol is a social lubricant.

"The sex differences in the findings can either be explained by differences in blood alcohol concentration between males and females with the same alcohol intake, differences in tolerance due to differences in previous levels of alcohol consumption or by socio-cultural factors."

The research which also appears in the journal Psychopharmacology was presented at the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP) annual meeting in Vienna.