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posted by mrpg on Monday November 14 2022, @09:40PM   Printer-friendly
from the beer-is-there-anything-it-can't-do? dept.

Beer hops compounds could help protect against Alzheimer's disease:

Beer is one of the oldest and most popular beverages in the world, with some people loving and others hating the distinct, bitter taste of the hops used to flavor its many varieties. But an especially "hoppy" brew might have unique health benefits. Recent research published in ACS Chemical Neuroscience reports that chemicals extracted from hop flowers can, in lab dishes, inhibit the clumping of amyloid beta proteins, which is associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD).

AD is a debilitating neurodegenerative disease, often marked by memory loss and personality changes in older adults. [...] Accordingly, preventative strategies and therapeutics that can intervene before symptoms appear are of increasing interest.

One of these strategies involves "nutraceuticals," or foods that have some type of medicinal or nutritional function. The hop flowers used to flavor beers have been explored as one of these potential nutraceuticals, with previous studies suggesting that the plant could interfere with the accumulation of amyloid beta proteins associated with AD. So, Cristina Airoldi, Alessandro Palmioli and colleagues wanted to investigate which chemical compounds in hops had this effect.

[...] In tests, they found that the extracts had antioxidant properties and could prevent amyloid beta proteins from clumping in human nerve cells. The most successful extract was from the Tettnang hop, found in many types of lagers and lighter ales. [...] The researchers say that although this work may not justify drinking more bitter brews, it shows that hop compounds could serve as the basis for nutraceuticals that combat the development of AD.

Journal Reference:
Alessandro Palmioli, Valeria Mazzoni, Ada De Luigi, et al., Alzheimer's Disease Prevention through Natural Compounds: Cell-Free, In Vitro, and In Vivo Dissection of Hop (Humulus lupulus L.) Multitarget Activity, ACS Chem. Neurosci. 2022 DOI: 10.1021/acschemneuro.2c00444


Original Submission

Related Stories

Why Using Real Maps Instead of GPS Could Prevent Dementia 23 comments

Turning off Waze or your favorite GPS app and using an old-fashioned map may be the best way to fight Alzheimer's disease, a new study reveals:

Researchers at McMaster University say orienteering, an outdoor sport that exercises the mind and body through navigation puzzles, can train the brain and stave off cognitive decline. The aim of orienteering is to navigate between checkpoints or controls marked on a special map. In competitive orienteering, the challenge is to complete the course in the quickest time.

For older adults, scientists say the sport — which sharpens navigational skills and memory — could become a useful intervention measure to fight off the slow decline related to dementia onset. They believe the physical and cognitive demands of orienteering can stimulate parts of the brain our ancient ancestors used for hunting and gathering.

The human brain evolved thousands of years ago to adapt to harsh environments by creating new neural pathways, the McMaster team explains. Those same brain functions are not always necessary today, however, thanks to GPS apps and food being readily available.

Unfortunately, the team says these skills fall into a "use it or lose it" situation.

[...] People who participated in orienteering displayed better spatial navigation and memory skills, suggesting that adding elements of wayfinding into their daily routines benefited them over their lifetime.

Journal Reference:
Emma E. Waddington, Jennifer J. Heisz. Orienteering experts report more proficient spatial processing and memory across adulthood, PLOS ONE (DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0280435)

Related:


Original Submission

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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by ikanreed on Monday November 14 2022, @09:45PM (11 children)

    by ikanreed (3164) Subscriber Badge on Monday November 14 2022, @09:45PM (#1279759) Journal

    You know, the one about amyloid-betas as a cause being built on top of a foundation of (lots of) faked results [science.org]?

    I feel like throwing solutions at a problem that is itself in serious doubt is kind of putting the cart several blocks ahead of the horse.

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by bloodnok on Monday November 14 2022, @10:45PM (10 children)

      by bloodnok (2578) on Monday November 14 2022, @10:45PM (#1279771)

      While your point is valid and well made we should not overlook the obvious: BEER GOOD!

      __
      The major

      • (Score: 2) by corey on Monday November 14 2022, @11:02PM (8 children)

        by corey (2202) on Monday November 14 2022, @11:02PM (#1279773)

        Exactly. Came here to say, finally — the science confirms that beer is good for your health! (In one little way at least)

        All those wine people with their high moral ground antioxidants: we’re one all now.

        • (Score: 2) by captain normal on Tuesday November 15 2022, @01:39AM (4 children)

          by captain normal (2205) on Tuesday November 15 2022, @01:39AM (#1279781)

          I was just trying to decide whither to have beer or wine for dinner. Guess I'm going for the IPA instead of the Zin.

          --
          When life isn't going right, go left.
          • (Score: 1) by pTamok on Tuesday November 15 2022, @07:25AM (3 children)

            by pTamok (3042) on Tuesday November 15 2022, @07:25AM (#1279831)

            for dinner, or with dinner? Substituting alcoholic drinks for meals is probably against some Surgeon General or other's advice.

            • (Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday November 15 2022, @02:35PM (2 children)

              by Freeman (732) on Tuesday November 15 2022, @02:35PM (#1279860) Journal

              Don't you worry, there's numbskulls that do that. "What do you mean alcohol has calories?!?" True surprise that Vodka has quite a few calories. "But I need to get totally smashed over the weekend!" "I'll just not eat before I go do that." Essentially actual quotes from morons in a Discord channel that I frequent. Alcohol and the pursuit of women has lead to many a bad decision.

              --
              Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
              • (Score: 2, Funny) by pTamok on Friday November 18 2022, @08:46AM (1 child)

                by pTamok (3042) on Friday November 18 2022, @08:46AM (#1280314)

                Alcohol and the pursuit of women has lead to many a bad decision.

                Let me simplify that for you: The pursuit of women has lead to many a bad decision.

                The Persians had a procedure, as recorded by Herodotus: On The Customs of the Persians, c. 430 BCE [fordham.edu]:

                It is also their general practice to deliberate upon affairs of weight when they are drunk; and then on the morrow, when they are sober, the decision to which they came the night before is put before them by the master of the house in which it was made; and if it is then approved of, they act on it; if not, they set it aside. Sometimes, however, they are sober at their first deliberation, but in this case they always reconsider the matter under the influence of wine.

                From: William Stearns Davis, Readings in Ancient History: Illustrative Extracts from the Sources, Vol. 2: Greece and the East (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1912), pp. 58-61.

                • (Score: 2) by Freeman on Friday November 18 2022, @03:59PM

                  by Freeman (732) on Friday November 18 2022, @03:59PM (#1280353) Journal

                  Alcohol (drug): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_(drug) [wikipedia.org]

                  It is one of the oldest and most commonly consumed recreational drugs, causing the characteristic effects of alcohol intoxication ("drunkenness").[12] Among other effects, alcohol produces
                  [...]
                  impairment of cognitive, memory, motor, and sensory function, and generalized depression of central nervous system function. Ethanol is only one of several types of alcohol, but it is the only type of alcohol that is found in alcoholic beverages or commonly used for recreational purposes; other alcohols such as methanol and isopropyl alcohol are significantly more toxic.[11]

                  --
                  Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
        • (Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 15 2022, @02:39AM (2 children)

          by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 15 2022, @02:39AM (#1279791)

          Or none of these studies is correct because we're in the dark ages of understanding human health, and people will believe whatever study is convenient for them and their habits.

          • (Score: 2) by Freeman on Friday November 18 2022, @05:21PM (1 child)

            by Freeman (732) on Friday November 18 2022, @05:21PM (#1280365) Journal

            Definitively good things, like water for the crops, is good. Construing it to, God made water to rain on the vineyards, so Wine/Beer is good. Is a bit of a large stretch.

            https://www.adventistbiblicalresearch.org/materials/beer-and-wine-the-bibles-counsel/ [adventistbiblicalresearch.org]

            The term strong drink presents no major translation problems because only one Hebrew word, shekar, lies behind it. But even so, the translation strong drink is more general than it ought to be. Modern readers may well think of strong drink as distilled liquor. But that is not what the Bible means by the term shekar. Since the process of distilling alcohol did not develop until around A.D. 500, the strongest alcoholic beverage people could make in Bible times contained only 14 percent alcohol by volume, approximately the maximum produced by natural fermentation. This fact tells us that the scriptural term strong drink certainly gives us no license to drink what we know today as hard liquor.
            [...]
            To give something of the picture these 19 Old Testament texts convey, let’s look at what some of them say about shekar: Leviticus 10:9 prohibits its use by a priest in ministry; Numbers 6:2, 3 forbids Nazarites from drinking it; in Judges 13:3, 4 an angel warns Samson’s mother-to-be not to drink it during her pregnancy; in Deuteronomy 29:5, 6 God tells the Israelites that He did not provide this drink for them in their wilderness wanderings.
            [...]
            Isaiah (51:21); Jeremiah (23:9); Hosea (4:11; 7:5); Joel (1:5); and Habbakuk (2:15) are among the Bible prophets who point out the ill effects, both physical and moral, which intoxicating wine produces.

            Proverbs 23:29-35 describes wine’s immediate physical effects (red eyes and blurred vision), its immediate social effects (strife and wounds), as well as the long-term results (woe and sorrow). Elsewhere, the book of Proverbs refers to wine as producing poverty (21:17) and violence (4:17). Isaiah adds that it deceives the mind (28:7), inflames a person, and leads to forgetfulness of God (5:11, 12).
            [...]
            In contrast to this large negative picture, about the only positive images the Bible gives of alcohol are three texts that note alcohol can produce a state of levity (certainly a valid physiological observation). The Bible writers also occasionally use wine to draw some favorable comparisons in figures of speech. (Yet they also use wine to symbolize some unfavorable comparisons as well. See the “wine of wrath” in Psalm 75:8 and Jeremiah 25:15).

            How then should we personally relate to alcohol in view of the overall picture given in the Old Testament? If one takes the whole picture into account and evaluates all the evidence, the most reasonable conclusion is that the only safe course is complete abstinence from alcohol in any form.

            --
            Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
            • (Score: 1) by pTamok on Friday November 18 2022, @08:13PM

              by pTamok (3042) on Friday November 18 2022, @08:13PM (#1280400)

              Yet the first miracle at Cana tells us that God was not averse to people drinking wine. Even today, children are given watered wine to drink in mainstream Israeli kindergartens. And, given the symbolism of the Last Supper and the continued use of Communion wine in most of Christendom, you can say that imbibing alcoholic drinks is a key part of being Christian*. The substance of the wine may well be Christ's blood, but its earthly form retains alcohol, with all its properties.

              *Some Methodists, as a personal decision, disagree. Mainstream Methodism does not require abstinence, 'merely', at minimum, a commitment to responsible drinking.

      • (Score: 2, Funny) by pTamok on Tuesday November 15 2022, @07:22AM

        by pTamok (3042) on Tuesday November 15 2022, @07:22AM (#1279830)
  • (Score: 2) by sonamchauhan on Monday November 14 2022, @10:45PM

    by sonamchauhan (6546) Subscriber Badge on Monday November 14 2022, @10:45PM (#1279772)

    are the molecules from hops small enough to cross the blood brain barrier?

    Or maybe they promote cleanup process that removes misfolded proteins? Like promote deeper undisturbed sleep -- which triggers a proces known to clear plaques.

  • (Score: 2) by ChrisMaple on Tuesday November 15 2022, @01:13AM

    by ChrisMaple (6964) on Tuesday November 15 2022, @01:13AM (#1279780)

    Hops also contain strongly estrogenic chemicals. Use with care.

  • (Score: 4, Touché) by Opportunist on Tuesday November 15 2022, @10:18AM (2 children)

    by Opportunist (5545) on Tuesday November 15 2022, @10:18AM (#1279838)

    Whenever I drink beer, I start forgetting stuff that happens, which clearly is counter to the claim of it preventing Alzheimer's.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 15 2022, @05:22PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 15 2022, @05:22PM (#1279885)

      > Whenever I drink beer, I start forgetting stuff that happens...

      Same here...but amazingly I remember those things on subsequent times that I drink beer.
      One of my smart friends claims this is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Context-dependent_memory [wikipedia.org]

      Starting from that premise, his life saving idea is to demonstrate to drunks, while they are drunk, that they are not good drivers. With any luck, some of them will remember that they aren't good drivers the next time they try to drive home from the bar...and call a cab.

      • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Opportunist on Wednesday November 16 2022, @08:34AM

        by Opportunist (5545) on Wednesday November 16 2022, @08:34AM (#1279987)

        You might want to factor in survivor bias into this equation, you might notice that it's rather the sensible people that get to this conclusion.

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