I'll drink to that

Here is some interesting news.

Hat tip- Poliblog
Open Post- Don Surber, Outside the Beltway, Basil's Blog and TMH's Bacon Bits

CORVALLIS, Ore. — Hops used to brew beer may have some health benefits, but researchers warn against expecting any significant effect by drinking a few cold ones.
Scientists at Oregon State University's Linus Pauling Institute have found a class of compounds called flavonoids neutralize "free radicals" — rogue oxygen molecules that can damage cells.

One of those flavonoids, a compound called xanthohumol, is found only in hops. It may help prevent some forms of cancer, researchers say.

Some beers already have higher levels of flavonoids than others. The lager and pilsner beers commonly sold by domestic U.S. brewers have fairly low levels of these compounds, but some porter, stout and ale brews have much higher levels.

Still, the level of the compound in beer is generally considered too low to have any significant preventive effect.

"We can't say that drinking beer will help prevent cancer," said Fred Stevens, OSU assistant professor of pharmacy and scientist in the Linus Pauling Institute.

Hops, from a flowering plant, are used by brewers as a bittering agent in beer. Xanthohumol is a yellow substance that was discovered in hops in 1913.

But its health effects were not known until the 1990s, when Stevens and colleagues started studying the flavonoid compound. In cell cultures and animal studies, xanthohumol targeted various types of cancer, including breast, colon and ovarian.