Beer is good for you

I’ve always suspected as much:

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Hops used to brew beer may have some health benefits but researchers warn against expecting any significant effect by drinking a few cold ones.

Scientists at Oregon State University’s Linus Pauling Institute have found a class of compounds called flavonids neutralize “free radicals” — rogue oxygen molecules that can damage cells.

One of those flavonids, a compound called xanthohumol, is found only in hops. It may help prevent some forms of cancer, researchers say

The research cautions though that the level of xanthohumol found in beer is generally considered “too low to have any significant preventive effect”.

Maybe not in a single beer—apparently they’ve never seen me and my buddies out drinking…

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MORE: Some of the best related headlines from around the Blogosphere:

• For This We Need Researchers?
• Glory Glory Hallelujah — appropriately, from SorryIGotDrunk.com, who adds that in addition to curing cancer, beer also “makes you smarter, sexier, and if you are a girl at a bar at 1:30AM, it can actually make you lose weight”.