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Science Technology

Ingredients in Beer as a Cancer Treatment? 190

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the really-drink-to-your-health dept.
ThePuceGuardian writes to tell us Biology News Net is reporting that one of the compounds found only in hops has gained rapid notice as a micronutrient that may help prevent many types of cancer. From the article: "Quite a bit is now known about the biological mechanism of action of this compound and the ways it may help prevent cancer or have other metabolic value. But even before most of those studies have been completed, efforts are under way to isolate and market it as a food supplement. A "health beer" with enhanced levels of the compound is already being developed."
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Ingredients in Beer as a Cancer Treatment? More

Ingredients in Beer as a Cancer Treatment?

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  • can't resist (Score:4, Funny)

    by Xiph ( 723935 ) on Sunday November 27, 2005 @08:36AM (#14123356)
    this sure will make the cancerward a more cheerful place...

    • Re:can't resist (Score:1, Insightful)

      by Xiph ( 723935 )
      This is when I realize that I shouldn't make stupid (albeit funny) comments when you have mod points.
    • That's terrible! You're a horrible, horrible person. MOD THE PARENT UP!

    • Re:can't resist (Score:3, Informative)

      by mhearne ( 601124 )
      It has been known for a long time that beer is beneficial, and that it helps to prevent cancer, or to endure it better. This is most especially true concerning the colon, and the organs.

      Of course there will be the usual comments about drunkeness, but only very low IQ people connect the two.

      I'm glad to see it finally published.

      Michael

  • Oh well if I have to then (Score:4, Funny)

    by Timesprout ( 579035 ) on Sunday November 27, 2005 @08:37AM (#14123359)
    I suppose I can drink more beer, but purely for medicinal purposes mind you.

    • Re:Oh well if I have to then (Score:5, Funny)

      by Ugly American ( 885937 ) on Sunday November 27, 2005 @08:50AM (#14123391)
      I can see the label now:

      "Use as directed. Side effects include enlarged waistline, impaired vision, and brewer's droop."

    • Re:Oh well if I have to then (Score:5, Funny)

      by jacquesm ( 154384 ) <j AT ww DOT com> on Sunday November 27, 2005 @09:02AM (#14123413) Homepage
      man, I can see it coming: Canabis is good for memory, beer is good against cancer. Time to move to Holland for all of you !

    • So will this mean non-medicinal consumption of beer will become illegal?

    • From TFA:

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

      Damn! I guess that means I'll have to drink more Guinness. Life is so unfair!!

    • But now the big decision. Wine for your heart or beer to prevent cancer. Decisions, decisions. Maybe life is good.
      • Real Ales have many of the same health benefits for your heart and digestive system as red wine.

        As always, enjoy in moderation.

        • Re:Oh well if I have to then (Score:5, Informative)

          by jc42 ( 318812 ) on Sunday November 27, 2005 @09:07PM (#14125971) Homepage Journal
          Indeed. One of the first major studies that dealt with the topic was done in the UK back in the 1970's. It was what's now often called a "data dredging" study, digging up lots and lots of medical records, running correlations of everything against everything else, to discover what might be correlated with long life.

          They expressed a bit of surprise that their main results turned out to be about alcoholic beverages. They reported that, while drunkards didn't do too well, teetotallers didn't do a lot better. Those who lived longest were what they called "moderate" drinkers. Many readers here in the US were a bit surprised to discover that this meant 3 or 4 "drinks" (about 1 ounce or 25-30 ml alcohol each) per day for the average-size person. Effectiveness fell off on either side of this peak level.

          They also said that people who drank mostly beer or wine showed the most benefit. Distilled beverages were only about half as effective. But drinking distilled booze mixed with fruit juices was about as good for you as beer or wine. They conjectured that the benefit was from both the alcohol and the vitamins produced by yeast or fruit.

          There was a strong "further research is needed" in the summary. After all, it was just a correlation study, and said little about causation. Since then there have been a lot of more-detailed studies. This study is just the latest in a series, and a lot more research is still needed.

          Finding volunteer subjects is perhaps easier with these studies than with most.

          And it has been fun watching the media try to spin the results of study after study that show the benefits of (moderate) alcohol consumption.

  • Hey Darwin... get this!!! (Score:3)

    by tacocat ( 527354 ) <tallison1&twmi,rr,com> on Sunday November 27, 2005 @08:41AM (#14123370)

    OK, so it Beer is some kind of health drink you should expect to see a natural progression of evolution to the following affects.

    Alcoholics will thrive just so long as they stay away from any attempt to recover.

    Recovered Alcoholics will become extinct.

    I guess everyone else becomes the control group.

    • iNDEED (Score:2)

      by bobalu ( 1921 )
      What makes you think this hasn't already happened? Alcohol or some derivative has been around since forever, and it seems to be a contributing factor to success in movies, music, government and business. I've never met a director/CEO that couldn't drink like a fish.

      As far as I know the universe doesn't do controlled experiments (or at least doesn't publish them in Nature), so I'm not sure about the control group, but it would seem clear that not everyone could be drunk at the same time.
      • I read about this somewhere linking alcohol to a person's success. I can't remember specifics, but it has something to do with lowered inhibitions and a greater willingness to take risks.

        I wonder how many people there are on the other side of the fence - *unsuccessful* directors and CEOs who took a big risk only to fail miserably.

  • That's really great. (Score:4, Funny)

    by antek9 ( 305362 ) on Sunday November 27, 2005 @08:43AM (#14123377)
    No big investments necessary, because cancer treatment 'clinics' are already in place on every corner in every city, worldwide. Except Iran and North Korea, maybe. Poor folks!

  • WHAT? (Score:1)

    by FST ( 766202 )
    So your saying all these college kids which keep peeing on my lawn after they are drunk aren't worsening their health? That's EXACTLY the reason I haven't called the police to fine them :(.

    • Re:WHAT? (Score:3, Interesting)

      by aussie_a ( 778472 )
      Well, like other forms of battling cancer, this does have negative side-effects that could kill the host. Just as chemo can kill people if administered in incorrect amounts and WILL have serious health consequences no matter how it's administered, so does alcohol. Alcohol can become lethal, but regardless will have serious consequences when administered (some side-effects are broken arms, becoming pregnant, acting like a jack-ass and waking up next to an ugly person).

      Although having said that, they have les

      • Re:WHAT? (Score:2, Funny)

        by ocelotbob ( 173602 )
        I dunno, I moderate my intake, and have beneficial side effects - good friends and good stories. I suggest checking your prescription.
      • I'm replying to your sig because I see this a lot.

        Free speech is being able to speak anonymously, and there are a lot of great anonymous comments posted, some anonymous because the poster is fearful of their job. You're only hurting yourself by not listening.
        • Free speech is being able to speak anonymously,

          Which I'm not stopping. However having said that, I have yet to see someone post anonymously because their government tried to stop free speech. Having said that, Americans do occassionally claim to be posting AC because of their employer, which leads me to my next point....

          some anonymous because the poster is fearful of their job.

          But they offer no proof or facts to their point. Only hearsay. I could post anonymously and claim to be an employer of whoever the a

      • Re:WHAT? (Score:2, Funny)

        by lahi ( 316099 )
        Alcohol can become lethal,
        And so what. Everything in moderation. Even water is poisonous, as was clear from recent news reporting in Denmark. A young otherwise healthy woman drank excessive amounts of unsalted water as part of a selfadministered "cleansing", which skewed her salt balance and caused brain damage and subsequent death.

        So please take everything with a grain of salt! (And a slice of lemon if it's tequila.)

        -Lasse
        • Drinking yourself to death is damn near impossible. A person with a healthy kidney and a minimum food intake can remove 17 liters (>4.5 gallons) of water from their body per day.

          I guess you could do it if you drink a few gallons of water and don't take in any salt equivalents.

          But it's difficult nonetheless.
        • It was a joke. Unfortunately the mods are still on crack, which is why I hide modding.
    • Consider that the horse swill they're drinking probably contains one medicinal molecule per keg of beer, as opposed to any real beer that provides a full dose in a single mug.

      Unless they're being homeopathic as well.

  • Not Surprising (Score:5, Interesting)

    by turbosk ( 73287 ) * on Sunday November 27, 2005 @08:48AM (#14123385)
    Hops also contains a slightly psychoactive substance, lupulin. Few beer drinkers know that amongst all plants the closest relative of hops is cannabis.

    Division Spermatophyta (seed plants)
    Class Angiospermae (flowering plants)
    Sub-Class Dicotyledons (two cotyledons on seedling)
    Order Urticates (elms, mulberries, nettles)
    Family Cannabinaceae (hops and cannabis)

    Food for thought.... :)

    • Re:Not Surprising (Score:3, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      I, for one, welcome our new, drunk, stoned and cancer free selves.

    • Beer Goggles (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Ahhh....so that's what causes beer goggles!!
    • FOOD for thought??

    • closest relative of hops is cannabis.

      i have a dated paperback (late 60s?) from straight arrow press that suggests the grafting of hops to the rootstock of reefer as a form of camouflage while growing.
    • [T]he closest relative of hops is cannabis.

      The overall significance of this might be indicated by comparing a few other sets of plants that are in the same family:

      tomatoes, nightshade, potatoes and tobacco (Solanaceae)
      strawberries, apples and almonds (Rosaceae)
      cashews and poison ivy (Anacardiaceae)
      cabbage, nasturtium and wasabi (Brassicaceae)
      okra and cotton (Malvaceae)

      Plants within a single family can be rather variable. Even within a single genus, you get contrasts like the various kinds of peppers.
    • And for the clueless, hops are what are used to flavour and bitter the beer (flavours generally being grassy, piney or in some cases, like cascade, citrusy.. bitter is the bite). Considering the amount of hops used in Bud and Budlight most american drinkers won't reap any medical benefits (they use very small quatities of hops).

      For something really hoppy look for an IPA (I prefer an IBU >50..IBU is international bittering units many producers will advertise how many IBU's their beer is.). Of course
    • However, just about all pot smokers know about that. Apparently you can even splice weed and hops pretty successfully, but I've never seen the results.

  • smokers (Score:4, Funny)

    by eneville ( 745111 ) on Sunday November 27, 2005 @08:49AM (#14123387) Homepage
    I suppose it's not so bad to smoke in the pub after all...

  • Mmmmmm... (Score:5, Informative)

    by Cally ( 10873 ) on Sunday November 27, 2005 @08:54AM (#14123397) Homepage
    ...Health Beer!

    Strange but true, hops are related to marijuana. Hence the definite high you get from a pint of real beer vs. the the fuzzy-headed blaaah that a pint of fizzy yellow larger brewed in a 40,000 gallon chemical plant [stella-artois.com] produces.

    (I assume this mention of 'hops' means that the beer referred to is proper beer [wikipedia.org], aka ale, which has fortunately made a good comeback in the UK in the last 10-15 years. A harmless 'welcome to the UK' ceremony I like to perform on arrivals from... well, anywhere, really, except Ireland perhaps, is to go for a drink and subtly pressure them into trying a pint or two of ale. They tend to think about beer in terms of how much lager they can consume, neck three pints and get entertainly messy, even tho' the alcohol content is about the same.

    Warning: do not try this on a school night *)

    • ...Health Beer!

      Dang. Now my precious Victory Hop Devil Ale [ratebeer.com] will become hard to obtain.

      First Bird Flu now this.

    • Re:Mmmmmm... (Score:3, Interesting)

      by hey! ( 33014 )
      A London publican once did this to me. I always love best to explore a city alone on foot, and I'd wandered into the then somewhat less than fashionable borough of Southwark (this was before the Globe Theatre reconstruction and the recycling of the old pwer station into the Tate Modern). There wasn't much happening there on a Saturday afternoon, so I decided to hike west and recross the river by the Houses of Parliament.

      But first I stopped into a pub for a lunch of steak and kidney pie (mad cow be damned
      • Obligatory Douglas Adams quote:
        "Three pints? At lunchtime?"
        "Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so."
      • A nice story! (Incidentally - you don't mention if you're still in town, but if so, did you know that a pub mentioned in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, the Golden Lion, is still open on Tabard St [streetmap.co.uk] in Southwark? I only heard this mentioned on the radio the other day, but the next chance I get to visit London I'll be seeking it out. Preferably on a cold, drizzly Tuesday afternoon, with a stack of stuff to read :)

        BTW, I hope you realise that we do this not as an evil trick, but as a small gesture of assistance t

    • (I assume this mention of 'hops' means that the beer referred to is proper beer [wikipedia.org], aka ale, which has fortunately made a good comeback in the UK in the last 10-15 years. A harmless 'welcome to the UK' ceremony I like to perform on arrivals from... well, anywhere, really, except Ireland perhaps, is to go for a drink and subtly pressure them into trying a pint or two of ale.

      You should feel lucky that you live in a place which has such real ales.

      Here in Canada, you get the usual North American be

      • Oh, I do feel lucky, believe me, I do. But c'mon, look on the bright side, Canada has so much that we haven't got! Canada has so much, hu, space... and Vancouver's supposed to be pretty good (it must be, if I've heard that here in rural England), and, and.. leaky old submarines!

        Actually I've always had a soft spot for Canada since doing a school project on the subject at the age of 9 or 10. I got so into it I remember spotting a car with a Canadian plate whilst on holiday in France, leaping out and taking

  • Good news why? Because I can in future have an excuse for traces of alcohol in my system especially when driving.

  • Health beer? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I suppose this health beer would have lots of hops. I have a suggestion for a name for it. We could call it an India Pale Ale. Oh, wait...

  • wow that's weird (Score:5, Funny)

    by TheCreeep ( 794716 ) on Sunday November 27, 2005 @09:12AM (#14123436)
    What's up with the title "Ingredients in Beer as a Cancer Treatment?".
    This is slashdot for crying out loud... I would have expected "Beer Cures Cancer".

  • Prevent != Treatment !!!! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by eggoeater ( 704775 ) on Sunday November 27, 2005 @09:20AM (#14123448) Journal
    There are many things that may help prevent cancer.

    There are very few things you can use to treat cancer.

  • price of hops (Score:2, Interesting)

    by mikerubin ( 449692 )
    I can see the price of hops - and thus beer - going up now as more and more hops are used for cancer treatment.
    Will the pharmaceutical companies try to regulate hops to keep the price up?

    • Re:price of hops (Score:5, Informative)

      by Tandoori Haggis ( 662404 ) on Sunday November 27, 2005 @10:46AM (#14123639)
      You raised a very interesting point there. Ales in Scotland were traditionally brewed with bittering agents other than hops, (Heather, thyme, myrltle, pine needles etc). Hops generally does not grow in Scotland and so has to be imported. After Scotland lost its indepedance folowing the act of union, it was decreed that all ales must be brewed with hops.

      Scottish brewers had no choice but to import hops, mostly from Kent. A tax was payable on the purchase of hops, putting Scottish brewers at a disadvantage. The solution was to brew with less hops but more malt. So a pint of Scottish heavy would have had less bitterness, (less hops), but a more full bodied flavour than its English equivalent.

      • Re:price of hops (Score:4, Informative)

        by Daniel Dvorkin ( 106857 ) * on Sunday November 27, 2005 @11:47AM (#14123859) Homepage Journal
        That law must have been changed at some point. Last time I was in Scotland, I drank ... um ... quite a bit ... of heather ale. The hoppy ales still predominated, of course, but it seemed like at least half the pubs had heather ale on tap. Good stuff; I do love my hops, but I'll certainly take a pint or five of heather on occasion.
        • Yes, the laws were relaxed or repealed and you can now brew traditional recipes without hops now. I won't turn down a pint or five of heather ale either. Definitely not a girlie drink. The folk that do Heather Ale also make brews with Pine needles, gooseberries etc. Damn good stuff and some are quite powerful too.

          Here is the frontpage (flash intro) <URL:http://www.heatherale.co.uk/><br>
          Here is the homepage <URL:http://www.fraoch.com/><br>
          And here is the ran
        • Yes, the laws were relaxed or repealed and you can now brew traditional recipes without hops now. I won't turn down a pint or five of heather ale either. Definitely not a girlie drink. The folk that do Heather Ale also make brews with Pine needles, gooseberries etc. Damn good stuff and some are quite powerful too.

          Here is the frontpage (flash intro) http://www.heatherale.co.uk/ [heatherale.co.uk]
          Here is the homepage http://www.fraoch.com/ [fraoch.com]
          And here is the range of ales! http://www.fraoch.com/historicales.htm [fraoch.com]

          -- My hyper
    • Ummm... hops is already one of the most regulated grops grown in the USA. Anybody can grow it, but you can only *sell* it if you have a "marketing order". Just like tobacco, oranges, and peanuts. "Wealthy hops grower" is already a redundancy. The hops growing lobby is just as strong as the tobacco lobby, only much more under the radar. Want to *sell* the hops you grow? Better hope you are in line to inherit the marketing order your great-grandpappy got way back when.

  • As Ben said... (Score:5, Funny)

    by QuietLagoon ( 813062 ) on Sunday November 27, 2005 @09:32AM (#14123465)
    Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. -- Ben Franklin [brainyquote.com]

  • The same story template, all over again (Score:5, Insightful)

    by GroeFaZ ( 850443 ) on Sunday November 27, 2005 @09:50AM (#14123493)
    While in my mid-20s I'm not considering myself old, I wonder if the number of food/beverage-related cancer stories I've come across is still in the double digits. If someone had the endurance to sum them all up, I guess the result would be something like that:

    Use common sense. Eat and drink whatever you have been eating and drinking all your life and whatever you feel like, but don't be excessive in quantity in either direction. Most important, eat and drink in enjoyable company of family or friends, take your time, and don't stress yourself out. While all of this is still no guarantee for anything, it certainly does not damage your overall health. Humanity has survived and prospered for millennia without reading a single cancer study.

  • Don't get too excited (Score:5, Informative)

    by sam_handelman ( 519767 ) <samuel...handelman@@@gmail...com> on Sunday November 27, 2005 @10:07AM (#14123535) Journal
    The article is a little light on the scientific details, but I assume (making an ass of u and me) that the evidence they're talking about are enzymatic activity assays from isolated tissues. A significant minority of all human genes have been implicated in the development of cancer - finding a compound that downregulates some of them in tissue culture isn't really surprising.

      Similar evidence has been accumulated regarding a host of other compounds - as far as I'm aware, none of them have ever proven useful either as treatments or as prophylactics. That said, by all means, dose a population of mice with hops extract and see if it prevents them from getting cancer.

    • but I assume (making an ass of u and me) that the evidence they're talking about are enzymatic activity assays from isolated tissues.

      I think that is a fair assumption (caveat included). But note that the trigger for looking at the bioflavinoids was a statistical anomoly that has been dubbed the French Paradox. Some groups in France who eat a traditional diet that is high in fats and such were having a much lower incidence of heart disease than was predicted by American based statistics. Several investiga

  • Funny. (Score:5, Informative)

    by Melllvar ( 911158 ) on Sunday November 27, 2005 @10:40AM (#14123626)

    I was just on Some Random Website the other day reading about how before hops found its way into beers (sometime around the fourteenth century, I think), its principle use in Europe was as a medicinal herb. Usually brewed as a tea, as I recall.

    Another Fun Beer Fact: before the British "discovered" how to put hops in their beer, the primary flavoring agent they used was creeping charlie [uvm.edu]. Ever since I found that out, I've always kinda wondered what that would taste like ...

    Another plant that seems to have tremendous health benefits (fightin' cancer [sciencenews.org], and alzheimer's [jbc.org], and as a general anti-inflammatory [american.edu], etc.) is turmeric [umm.edu] -- which is one of the primary ingredients of curry.

    Hmmmm ... beer and curry ... the British must live fer freakin' ever.

    • Hmmmm ... beer and curry ... the British must live fer freakin' ever. ... or they would, were it not for fish and chips, beans on toast, lamb roasted in lard, meat pies, etc.

      Mmmmm, greasy. I miss my Aussie/British food.
      • from your list, you missed two very important english foods:

        Mushy pea butties (plenty of vinegar)
        meat 'n' 'tato pie butties with brown sauce (bread, whole pie, brown sauce, bread)
        tea

        do americans even know what brown sauce is? do you have a different word for it? it cant be that only us northerners (north england) eat brown sauce. (bloody southerners dont)

        brown sauce:
        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_sauce [wikipedia.org]

        hmm, that post became quite OT, ah well.
    • Funny. (Score:5, Informative)

      Symmetry demands that comment is modded Funny.

  • I already have a beer with "enhanced levels of these compounds". It's called Devil Dancer Tripel IPA, it's brewed in michigan, and it's delicious! There are a number of other beers like it, the style usually being called Imperial IPA, or double IPA.

    The only problem, it's a bit...mmmm...strong, at 13.something percent alcohol, it's a bit more than the health types recommend you drink a day to get the wine like antioxidant effects from beer. My solution is to share my strong beers with friends, as I have n

  • Wisdom of Those Who Came Before (Score:5, Interesting)

    by the eric conspiracy ( 20178 ) on Sunday November 27, 2005 @11:42AM (#14123840)
    A little known fact (not described in the High School history books) is that the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth because they had run out of beer and needed to make more. I had always held the founders in high esteem, and this news just elevates that.

       
    • "A little known fact (not described in the High School history books) is that the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth because they had run out of beer and needed to make more."

      This is a common misrepresentation of the situation. They were running low on provisions in general, but the most urgent was drinkable liquid. Because beer keeps even better than water, but has enough nutrients to keep you alive for quite a while, it's a last-resort foodstuff. The fact that they were running low on ale probably indicates that

  • Manly Men? (Score:3, Funny)

    by sacremon ( 244448 ) on Sunday November 27, 2005 @11:44AM (#14123847)
    From the article:

    "In recent years, it has also been shown that some prenylflavonoids found in hops are potent phytoestrogens, and could ultimately have value in prevention or treatment of post-menopausal "hot flashes" and osteoporosis - but no proper clinical trials have been done to study this."

    So there is an estrogen-like substance in beer as well. Hmmm... maybe that explains the enlarged chest of men who drink a lot of beer...

  • Guinness IS Good For You!
  • http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4438938.stm [bbc.co.uk] pathway
    random letters - if you are visually impaired, please email us at pater@slashdot.org

  • This shouldn't come as a surprise... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by mikael ( 484 ) on Sunday November 27, 2005 @12:25PM (#14124002)
    It is known by archeologists [nationalgeographic.com] that the process of creating beer in ancient societies (Egypt, Africa), often led to the contamination of the storage containers by the streptomycedes bacterium. This in turn led to the production of the antibiotic "tetracycline". The physicans of the time knew that beer was a good cure for ailments, but not why.
  • Beer! It's the reason I get up in the afternoon.

  • Vindicated (Score:2, Funny)

    by sabre307 ( 451605 )
    Finally the medical community is starting to catch up with me. Every night I smoke some pot for my glaucoma, drink wine to prevent a heart attack, and now I'm adding beer in to ward off cancer. Next their going to figure out that Cheetos prevent Alzheimers and I'll be all set!

  • Angiogenesis Inhibitors (Score:4, Informative)

    by eric76 ( 679787 ) on Sunday November 27, 2005 @01:31PM (#14124372)
    One class of compounds called angiogenesis inhibitors help protect the body from cancers by blocking the enzymes emitted by the cancers to signal the body to build a blood supply to the cancer. No additional blood supply means the cancer stalls out.

    The pioneer in the area is a Dr. Judah Folkman. If you ever get a chance to hear him speak, don't pass up the opportunity.

    According to Dr Folkman, the food with the highest amount of angiogenesis inhibitors found so far are Indian curries.

    So have curries with your beer and attack the cancers on two fronts.

    Even better, restrict your intake of iron and attack the cancers on three fronts. Too much iron can increase the growth of certain cancers.
  • 6 pack of the good stuff.... $10
    Some pretzles to go with.... $5
    Look on wifes face just now when I told her I'd be drinking 'health beer' from now on... Gawd, what a look!
  • Why not just extract the micronutrient chemically and put it in a vitamin supplement? There's probably someone at GNC working on this already. The problem with beer is the ethanol (a.k.a alcohol) it contains.

  • Hmm. (Score:3, Funny)

    by FSUpaintball ( 833904 ) on Sunday November 27, 2005 @02:52PM (#14124710) Homepage
    Well, I guess now we know why college kids rarely get cancer.

  • Patented Beer? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by nick_davison ( 217681 ) on Sunday November 27, 2005 @04:59PM (#14125189)
    Great, so now the drug companies are going to patent beer?

    "Free as in beer" tag disappearing in five, four, three, two...
  • Stories of beer's medicinal effects go back as far as recorded history - in fact, beer is central in the earliest recorded prescription, as a counteragent to a worm imagined by ancient Mesopotamians to cause toothache:

    For treatment, one would mix beer, a lump of malt, and oil together, then repeat the following incantation three times:

    After Anu [had created the sky],/ The sky had created [the earth],/ The earth had created the rivers./ The rivers had created canals,/ The canals had created the marsh,/ The

  • So will health insurance be free as in beer, or will beer be free as in cancer treatment? I'm so confused.

  • Free as in Beer (Score:3, Funny)

    by HermanAB ( 661181 ) on Sunday November 27, 2005 @08:57PM (#14125953)
    now took on a whole new meaning...
  • Hops are a very close relative of another member of the cannabis family. Other products might hold these trace chemicals, too.

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