June 12, 2006
Mmm… Hops.
New study finds beer helps prevent prostate cancer:
One of the main ingredients in beer appears to thwart prostate cancer, according to findings released by researchers at a university in the US state of Oregon.
However, a person would have to quaff more than 17 pints to imbibe a medically effective dose of xanthohumol, the evident cancer-fighting chemical found in hops, according to researcher Emily Ho.
“From my studies, you would have to drink an awful lot of beer to get the amount that I saw,” Ho told AFP. “So the counter effects of the alcohol may outweigh any health benefits from drinking beer.”
Hmm, I’ll bet that drinking beer is more pleasant that a prostate exam. Luckily, I’m still young enough not to know that by experience…
But the interesting thing is the fact that this revolves around hops. So, a lightly-hopped Miller Lite may require you to drink 17 beers, but a hop-bomb like Stone’s Ruination IPA, with roughly 10 times the bitterness (caused by hops) of that Miller Lite, might not require so many.
I guess that makes it a good think that my current homebrew batch is a clone of that Ruination IPA, using a ridiculous amount of hops 
If anything, this isn’t a command for you to drink more beer. It’s a command to drink more GOOD beer.
UPDATE: It looks like coffee helps cut the damage to the liver caused by alcohol. Considering it also have strong anti-oxidant effects, this only adds to it’s health benefits. Considering I pretty much only drink beer, coffee, and water, I must be the healthiest man alive!
Below The Beltway linked with Coffee and Liquor
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Brad, I can’t remember the last time I heard this much good news. Thanks for the report. I’m off to have a whisky. I’ll be dinking coffee in the A.M. and some water in the afternoon until it’s time for whisky again.
John,
Whiskey doesn’t have hops in it. Thus, no xanthohumol.
Thanks for trying to ruin my day - but it didn’t work. It wasn’t the prostate I was worried about, it was the liver. Pumpkin seeds for the prostate and coffee for the liver. I’m all set.
Unfortunately, I’m not a fan of hops, so this doesn’t help me much. Not like it’s going to stop me from drinking beer though.
[...] H/T to Brad Warbiany [link] [...]