Scientists claim beer not to blame for beer bellies

Drink to this: That so-called beer belly you have riding atop your belt buckle? It's not caused by beer. Or so say scientists in Germany, home to the world's oldest brewery and thus the longest lineage of beer bellies. The methodology seems dubious: Participants surveyed by the panel were asked to estimate their beer intake, and we know those stories are usually either wildly exaggerated or shamefully minimized. Nonetheless, researchers concluded that the data "does not support the common belief of a site-specific effect of beer on the abdomen," though they did, perhaps grudgingly, admit that beer consumption seems to increase "overall body fatness."​