Healthy Hops

In honor of National Beer Day—which commemorates the day the Cullen-Harrison Act made beer legal again, after being signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on March 22, 1933—I have a study for you that gives new meaning to “self-medicating.”

Researchers at the University of Washington have recently discovered that humulones, a derivative of hops that give your beer its bitter, hoppy flavor, can sometimes benefit sufferers of diabetes, certain cancers, and other ailments.

Of course, these effects were only seen in moderation, so don’t consider it a free pass for unlimited alcohol consumption, but the results are still pretty interesting.

Prior to this study, others had recognized that beer and “its bittering acids” had beneficial effects on diabetes, cancer, inflammation, and even weight loss. Werner Kaminsky, a professor of chemistry at the University of Washington, sought to discover the exact structure of those bittering acids.

First, Kaminsky’s coauthors from KinDex Therapeutics “recovered acids from the brewing process and purified them.” The next step entailed converting the humulones to salt crystals.

Then, Kaminsky picked up the process, using x-ray crystallography to determine the exact configuration of the molecules.

According to Kaminsky, this will allow them to determine which molecule goes to which bitterness taste in beer, in addition to the configuration of the molecules. While the exact configuration might not seem overly important at first glance, humulone molecules “are rearranged during the brewing process to contain a ring with five carbon atoms instead of six.” This distinction can be the difference between producing beneficial or disastrous results in pharmaceuticals.

So, tonight, when you celebrate National Beer Day, remember hops are only helpful in moderation! …Or forget, I bet they’ll help with that too!

Image credit: Werner Kaminsky via EurekAlert!