Beer Is Good For You, Possibly

For news of this magnitude, Geezer wishes he could hold the presses. But of course, there are no presses, just a bunch of microchips and routers and servers and Geezer is afraid to hold any of those things because he might drop them and break something and his teenage children would shun him, whereupon he would repair to the kitchen and open the refrigerator and take a long restorative drink of xanthohumol. OK, beer. But as this news release from Oregon State University reports, beer is made from hops, and hops contain the flavonoid xanthonhumol, which appears to neutralize the free radicals that can damage cells and enhance what is commonly known as the aging process. The research, conducted by scientists at Oregon State University’s Linus Pauling Institute, found that in cell cultures and animal studies, xanthohumol targeted various types of cancer, including breast, colon and ovarian. Researchers also believe that xanthohumol acts as a powerful
antioxidant – even more than vitamin E, and has the ability to
reduce the oxidation of LDL, or bad cholesterol. In the interest of full disclosure, Geezer reports that there is no research–yet–that indicates that the very small amount of xanthohumol found in beer has any health benefit. Whatsoever.