The New-Old Herbal Medicine: Beer!

Beer is the oldest alcoholic beverage in the world, as well as the most popular. Ale, Lager, Pale, Dark, Lambic... so many different types, different tastes, different textures, and all of them contain hops. Hops are used in beer to add the bitterness to the beer and add the many different aromas that are associated with the type of beer. Another thing that hops does, is contain xanthohumol, a natural compound that is shown to have many medical benefits, including one that can fight and protect against prostrate, breast, bowel, and many other cancers.

When hops is presented as a core ingredient of beer with a high alcohol percentage, hops is the one that causes the drowsy after drinking effects and has been known to treat many kinds of sleep disturbances, but curing cancer is one that no one saw coming. The antioxidants that come from the hops ingredient xanthohumol, is more than the known and strong antioxidant, vitamin E.

Germany researchers uncovered that xanthohumol could be improved and brewed into a unique anti-cancer beer. Not only could beer be used as a way of coming up with an herbal cancer treatment, but other compounds found in hops are led to believe that they could assist in stopping those annoying hot flashes that come with post menopause as well as osteoporosis.

When it comes to which beer is better for you, many researchers say the darker the beer, the better that it is going to be for you because dark beer is more bitter meaning there is more hops in the brew. More hops mean more antioxidants to fight the body's toxins. Not only will beer protect from post menopause symptoms, cancer, and osteoporosis, you can count on it reducing cholesterol!

For many years doctors, researchers, and scientists have believed that keeping our body free of toxins were the way to a healthy life, therefore the constant lectures about how antioxidants are a must in the daily diet. When the subject of cancer arises, antioxidants such as beta carotene, lycopene, and vitamins C, E, and A, are needed to protect and stabilize cells from damage that is caused by unbalanced molecules in the body that in due course can guide the way to cancer.

Sounds great right? Well, as most things they can often present themselves as being too good to be true. In order to get the correct amount of xanthohumol from the hops needed to fight cancer, post menopause, cholesterol, and etc., you would need to drink about 60 beers. Sixty beers would cause alcohol poisoning and one heck of a hangover and maybe death. So, don't go drinking two cases of Guinness for your health, keep it in moderation.

Most beers only contain about 150 calories; have no fat, no cholesterol, no caffeine, no nitrates, have large amounts of magnesium, selenium, potassium, phosphorus, B vitamins, and biotin. Oh, and I forgot to mention that 90% of the beer that you are drinking is water. There are so many beers out there and depending on the alcoholic level as well as the other trace elements that some brewing companies use to create that certain taste and color, the calorie levels may change as well as the amount of vitamins and minerals.

Researchers are now working on a way to brew a healthier beer that contain high levels of xanthohumol to help our bodies without putting us one foot in the grave to get it. Researchers are also trying to find ways to add xanthohumol into other products so we can all have the benefit of keeping healthy, even if you don't like beer. Beer is just one of the many forms to receive specific antioxidants that are needed in the body; others are carrots, mangos, kale, spinach, tomatoes, milk, poultry, nuts, and fish. But again, moderation is a good thing; too much of one type of food can lead to other diseases and disorders.

If beer really isn't your thing, but you want to still receive those high antioxidant levels from beer, you can also cook with beer. Beer is a great substitute for water in making home made meat loaf. I use it all of the time and you can't taste the beer at all, but you're sure getting those antioxidants that you need.

You can also use beer in baking because it adds moistness. Beer is also a popular ingredient for broiling or grilling, and even can be a great alternative for wine in stews and soups.

All and all, it may be a while before we see the antioxidants of xanthohumol transformed to a healthier beer drinking limit, but in the mean time; keep on the lookout for moderately filling your body with antioxidants and fighting cancer and cholesterol in a slow yet sufficient manner.

Bottoms up!