Wednesday, December 14, 2005

A beer a day keeps cancer at bay

A beer a day, keeps cancer at bay?

Sounds odd? Well, it’s a substantial claim. As we all know it, beer is brewed from hops, which is quite a beneficial plant (curing insomnia for example) and though it had underwent fermentation, it must have retain some of its valuable content. Recently, some researches were done by a group of researcher from Oregon State University which concludes that beer contains some factors which can suppress the development of breast cancer, intestinal cancer, ovarian cancer and prostate cancer. The said factors are able to suppress essential substances required for a successful tumour growth and thus hindering the development of early stage tumours. Anyhow, it’s not advisable to consume beer on a daily basis as one might get addicted. Furthermore, regular consumption of alcohols will result in liver complaints. These include liver cancer and hardening of liver tissue.

On the other hand, I recommend that one chooses hops based drink instead of beer. One good example of this is malt drink. As malt drink is basically made out of hops, it has quite same content of beer minus the alcohols. Moreover, it can provide you with more energy and traditionally recommended as an energy-booster. You can still see this kind of advertisement jingle lingering in the ads said drinks (not insulting, just commenting).

Talking about hops (Humulus lupulus), it’s time for me to introduce its properties. However, do not confuse the properties of hops with those of beers, they might have different properties altogether.


Hops

Parts Used: Flowers
Medicinal Properties: Tonic, nervine, diuretic, anodyne (analgesic), stomachic, and aromatic (what the heck is these? More will come later in the next posting, in the mean time checks them out in the net).

  1. It enhances sleep and promotes appetite.

  2. It helps in correcting digestive problems.

  3. It is very effective in treating heart diseases, fits, neuralgia, jaundice (yellowish skin hue), nervous disorders, stomachs and liver problems.

  4. Its expressed juice helps to cleanse blood and can be used to remedy calculus problems.

  5. In its poultice form, in combination with Chamomile heads, it can be used to reduce swellings or inflammation and bruises.



It’s usually administered as infusion.

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