Beer Good for What Ails You – Prostate Cancer to Strong Bones and Beyond

By: Jean Johnson for Body1

A bright yellow India Pale Ale on a summer evening – along with a good slosh of the fizzy brew in the steak marinade. The smell of a sweet, malty porter in October accompanying boiled sausages and cabbage. Or perhaps a fruitcake for the holidays made with Guinness. And then there are those bracing rites of spring when nothing less than your very own local microbrew’s latest offering will fill the need for rejuvenation.

Take Action

Try the Guinness Fruitcake recipe to incorporate some beer into your diet: This recipe for Guinness Fruitcake that the Irish are fond of is adapted from Moira Hodson’s Favorite Fruitcakes: Recipes, Legends, and Lore from the World’s Best Cooks and Eaters (1993). If you try this out, you’ll not only get some beer in your diet, you’ll probably rethink any aversion to fruitcake you might have. Keep in mind that this recipe probably came about by using leftover Guinness. So enjoy a bottle or two with dinner before putting a cup of raisins to soak overnight in a cup of the beer. The next day butter and flour a Bundt pan and preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Cream a stick of butter with a cup of dark brown sugar until light and fluffy, and then beat in three eggs, one at a time. Combine two and a quarter cups of flour (whole wheat pastry flour works great) together with 1 teaspoon each of baking power and ground allspice and a half teaspoon of salt. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ones, sifting if you like. Drain the raisins, chop a half cup of candied orange or lemon peel and a half cup of walnuts. Stir the works in and bake for an hour at 325 degrees before turning the oven down to 300 to finish the cake off (for another 30-60 minutes). When the cake has cooled, remove it from the pan and invert. Use a skewer to poke holes in the bottom and slowly pour a cup of gorgeous Guinness over it. Store in an airtight tin or even a plastic cake keeper. Wrapping the cake in any piece of light cotton cloth you don’t mind sacrificing to the occasion helps this lovely seasonal creation stay moist.

Prostate Cancer News

We can thank the Germans for bringing brewing to North America, and Oregonians in particular owe homage to Henry Weinhart whose brick brewery in downtown Portland has become a landmark. One reason Weinhart set up shop in this area is because hops grow so well in the region’s temperate climate and rich coastal loam. That’s also why Oregon State University is a pioneer in hops studies, according to Fred Stevens, Ph.D., co-author of a new paper on hops and prostate cancer published in a May 2006 issue of Cancer Letters. Stevens is also assistant professor of medicinal chemistry in OSU’s College of Pharmacy and a Linus Pauling Institute researcher.

A compound found in hops – xanthohumol – inhibits a protein in cells along the surface of the prostate gland, explained Emily Ho, Ph.D., who authored the paper along with Stevens. Ho, who is an assistant professor of nutrition and exercise science in OSU’s College of Health and Human Sciences, is also a researcher with the Linus Pauling Institute. She notes that the “protein acts like a signal switch that turns on a variety of animal and human malignancies, including prostate cancer.”

Ho added, “We’ve shown that the addition of xanthohumol in a cell culture blocks the signal of NF-KappaB protein and works to slow down the growth of benign prostatic hyperplasia and malignant prostate cancer cells.”

Xanthohumol belongs to a group of compounds called flavonoids that play a role in cancer prevention because they interfere with cell reproduction run amuck that is a cause of cancer. (Other researchers have found that flavonoids might also inhibit breast and colon cancers as well.)

The problem is that the amount of xanthohumol in a glass of beer is so small that it would take drinking 17 beers a day to see any benefits – and those would be offset by the inevitable weight gain, brain atrophy, and increased risk for stroke and heart attack that excessive consumption of alcohol is associated with.

A beer drinker’s dilemma, however, is an herbal supplement manufacturer’s dream. There are already several food supplements on the market that contain hops. More, scientists in Germany have developed a beer that contains 10 times the amount of xanthohumol as traditional brews. Although the beer is a microbrew and not available out of the country, OSU’s Stevens has tried some. “It tastes good,” he said. “It has a bit of fresh taste.”

Before family summer vacation plans are rerouted to Germany, though, a cautionary word from Ho. “The one caveat is that all our work is done in a laboratory system using cultured cells with purified compounds.”

Bone Density and Beer

Ladies who hoist a frosted mug might be doing themselves a favor too, according to a 2004 report from Tufts University. Katherine Tucker, Ph.D., associate professor of nutrition at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, participated in a study that showed all beer from light to dark protected bone mineral density.

“The reason, we think, is that beer is a major contributor to the diet of silicon,” said Tucker. Silicon fosters the deposition of calcium and other minerals into bone tissue.

Heart Health and Dark Suds

The Tufts report also noted that dark beers which are high in antioxidants (known for keeping arteries from clogging) may reduce risk of heart disease. “Most health research suggests that benefits, including protection against heart disease, are noted with up to one drink per day for women and up to two a day for men,” said Tucker.

Margo A. Denke, M.D., associate professor of medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, is more liberal than Tucker. Denke conducted a 2001 study that showed moderate consumption of any alcoholic beverage can lower risk of heart disease and stroke. “The majority of more recent, large population-based studies have observed that moderate drinking in the range of one to three drinks daily is associated with a 30 to 40 percent lower rate of coronary heart disease compared to non-drinking,” wrote Denke.

Denke adds that beer is preferred over spirits because it contains more nutrients including protein, B-vitamins, and minerals like magnesium, cadmium, and iron. Beer, along with red wine, also has polyphenols that have antioxidant properties useful for reducing LDL [bad] cholesterol oxidation.

A Czech study echoed these benefits in results published in a 2001 issue of the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. “Moderate beer consumption may help to maintain the total homocysteine levels in the normal range due to high folate content,” wrote O. Mayer Jr., Ph.D., and colleagues from the Center of Preventative Medicine at Charles University in Pilsen which is home to Pizensky Prazdroj, brewer of the world-famous golden larger Pilsner Urquell. “Folate from beer may contribute to the protective effect of alcohol consumption on cardiovascular disease in populations with generally low folate intake from other nutrients.” (Folate is especially abundant in dark, leafy greens like the ones so often seen decorating buffets.)

Beer and the Kidneys

Beer drinkers also have 40 percent lower risk of kidney stones according to a 1999 Finnish-U.S. study. But results of this study on middle-aged men, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, puzzled researchers who were stumped as to whether the significant differences were due to water, alcohol, or hops.

Beer and the Myth of the Jelly Belly

Moderation is the key, according to Larry Lindner, executive editor of the Tufts University Health and Nutrition Letter. “Particular foods just don’t pick particular places to lodge,” said Lindner. “It’s not as if beer says, ‘OK, I’ll just go to this guy’s belly,’ or a chocolate bar says, ‘and I’ll go to that woman’s thighs.’”

Rather, it’s a calories thing all the way, and excess alcohol consumption might add weight, thus taking away from any benefits derived. (In other words, if you try the Guinness fruit cake recipe slice it very thinly and savor each morsel.)

“The bottom line is obesity is a major problem,” said Tuft’s Alice Lichtenstein, Ph.D., professor of nutrition at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy and vice chairman of the American Heart Association’s nutrition committee. “People need to worry about energy balance.”

Last updated: 29-Sep-06