Dr. Weil. You know, Dr. Andrew Weil, the proponent of alternative medicine. The guy whose bald head, great white beard, and friendly smile are all over the self-help section in Borders not to mention web ads and the shopping channel. Forbes magazine called him “..one of the most widely known and respected alternative medicine gurus…” What does he have to do with beer.

Well, he’s weighed in on Xanthohumol, the substance found in hops shown to help prevent several types of cancer.

An Antioxidant in Beer?

I am hearing more about an antioxidant called xanthohumol, derived from hops used in beer making. What can you tell me about it?

Xanthohumol (pronounced zan-tho-HUE-mol) is a flavonoid, a type of antioxidant that may have antiviral, anti-allergic, anti-clotting, anti-inflammatory, and anti-tumor activity. It was first isolated in 1913 from hops, the aromatic herb that flavors beer. More recent studies at the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University (OSU) have found that xanthohumol is active against breast, colon, and ovarian cancer cells – at least in test tube studies. OSU studies also have shown that xanthohumol might help prevent prostate cancer.

But please don’t get the idea that beer drinking can prevent cancer. First of all, most beers produced in the United States don’t contain much in the way of hops. The exceptions are ale, porter and stout, which have higher levels of hops than the more popular lager and pilsner beers. You would have to consume more than 17 beers to get an amount equivalent to the flavonoid content found effective in an OSU laboratory study investigating the effects of xanthohumol on prostate cancer cells.

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Yeah, I know, he’s pretty ignorant about beer. But so are a lot of people. Still, I think it’s interesting to see beer in this sort of context.