Good News for Beer Drinkers

German scientists have developed a beer that could help fight cancer.

A potent antioxidant called xanthohumol has been found in hops and has been shown in previous laboratory studies to stem the growth of tumour cells.

Found in very low concentrations in normal beer, the German Cancer Research Institute in Heidelberg suggested that researchers at the Technical University of Munich develop and enrich the compound.

Scientists brew the beer with 10 times the normal content of xanthohumol, but the calorie and alcohol content similar to that of standard beer.

Achim Zuercher, a scientist involved in the study said the content of xanthohumol in commercial beers in about 0.01 to 0.20 mg/L. The new beer has concentration of about 1.0 to 2.5 mg/L.

The beer will be marketed in January or February 2003 by an unnamed brewery in Bavaria. It is expected to be sold outside Germany.

“Red wine has had a good image in terms of cancer since the discovery of resveratrol. Now we have xanthohumol for beer,” he said.

Tests on the effects of xanthohumol have only been carried out the laboratory, he noted, but it has been shown in a variety of test systems to be a very promising and effective natural substance against cancer.

“For example, it is much more effective than resveratrol,” he noted.

Still, the researcher stressed it would not be possible to say conclusively that the beer will fight cancer in humans until tests are completed several years down the line.

“The Cancer Research Institute will now begin to test our beer on animals but it will take several years to establish whether the compound is really chemopreventative in people,” he said.

(Source: ASCO)