Not so bad after all: Beer might help cure cancer

Now all you guys and girls have one more reason to not be guilty about drinking beer. Turns out, it contains a key ingredient that could be used in treating cancer, claim researchers.

Now all you guys and girls have one more reason to not be guilty about drinking beer. Turns out, it contains a key ingredient that could be used in treating cancer, claim researchers.

Hops, which give the tipple its distinctive bitter taste, pack a surprisingly healthful punch with their ability to halt bacterial growth and disease.

They contain acids called humulones and lupulones which scientists hope to be able to turn into drugs.

Researchers from the University of Idaho are working to extract the compounds and also find a way of creating them in the lab.

Biologists and medical researchers are planning to develop active agents for pharmaceuticals to treat cancers or inflammatory diseases from beer-inspired compounds.

Kristopher Waynant said that they were “very close” to achieving this after a lot of “trial and error”.

The study is due to be presented at the National Meeting of the American Chemical Society.

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