Prostate Medicine on Tap, Oregon State Researchers Say

Hops, the flower parts that give beer its bitter taste, have medicinal properties as well, according to research by Oregon State University scientists reported on Sunday by the Associated Press. The scientists, who have described their work in the journals Phytochemistry and Cancer Letters, found that hops contain traces of the compound xanthohumol, which can inhibit a protein that causes prostate cancer. The only problem, the researchers said, is that the substance is found in such minute quantities that a patient would need to drink some 17 beers to ingest enough of it to benefit. One solution to the problem, the scientists said, would be to develop pills with concentrated doses of the compound. In some quarters of academe, however, this would be regarded as not a problem but an opportunity.