Glass of beer 'makes people more sociable'

Researchers from Switzerland have confirmed what most of us already know - drinking a single glass of beer can make people more sociable. The team from University Hospital in Basel tested 60 healthy people, with an equal number of men and women drinking alcoholic and non-alcoholic beer. They took part in a range of tasks, including a face recognition test, empathy test and sexual arousal test. The lead researcher said there had been little previous research in this area. Prof Matthias Liechti explained: "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."