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CapitalPress.com
April 13, 2018
Hops compound may offset obesity’s risks
By GAIL OBERST
For the Capital Press
Oregon State University re-
searchers have developed deriva-
tives of xanthohumol, a compound
that occurs naturally in the hop
plant, and can combat metabolic
syndrome in obese mice, and some
day, humans.
The syndrome is caused by a
high-fat diet and impacts nearly 25
percent of U.S. adults, causing high
blood pressure, inflammation and
insulin resistance, putting them at
risk of heart disease and diabetes, to
name a few health problems.
The new discovery, published
in January, may solve many health
problems, and if it is developed,
may also offer a new market for
the world’s hop growers, including
those in the Northwest.
“We’re really excited about this,”
said Cristobal Miranda, a research
associate professor at OSU’s Linus
Pauling Institute. Miranda, with
Fred Stevens and 18 other national
and international authors, released
their latest findings in Scientific Re-
ports, a research journal.
The latest research indicates
that hydrogenated derivatives of
xanthohumol have greater potency
than xanthohumol itself in lowering
body weight gain and reducing in-
sulin resistance in obese mice.
But beer and xanthohumol part
ways at the cone. Xanthohumol is
a highly purified ingredient unique
to hops, and is found in most hop-
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py beers. However, a person would
have to drink 3,500 beers daily for
the same benefit presumed from a
175 mg tablet of xanthohumol, the
estimated human dosage to battle
symptoms of metabolic syndrome.
Even if the beers could be con-
sumed, the newly isolated deriva-
tives are free of estrogenic proper-
ties that have been associated with
xanthohumol consumption.
Don’t go looking for the deriva-
tives in your natural food stores or
pharmacies just yet. Although re-
search on mice and rats — and some
human tests — are compelling, the
federally required human trials are
still in the wings. Stevens and Mi-
randa are hoping to complete trials
as soon as funds are available.
The findings were no accident.
Discovery of the hop derivatives’
health properties culminates re-
search that spans decades. Miran-
da and Stevens have published 24
scientific papers together, most de-
tailing their hops research. Testing
the derivatives of xanthohumol was
the final step in demonstrating their
beneficial health effects without the
problematic adverse effects of es-
trogen in hops.
“We’ve finally fixed that aberra-
tion,” Stevens said.
Meanwhile, the infrastructure for
processing the derivatives is already
in place. Northwest and German
and laboratories, some connected to
beer production and others to health
research, already process xanthohu-
mol. Xanthohumol has long been
part of pre-clinical and clinical test-
ing at OSU and Oregon Health and
Science University.
Hopsteiner, a hop grower, glob-
al distributor and processor with
locations including Yakima, Wash.,
provided purified xanthohumol for
the study.
It is both a blessing and a curse
that xanthohumol and its potential
for saving lives is found in hops,
Stevens indicated.
It is a blessing because it is read-
ily and plentifully available from a
natural source, and a curse for the
same reason.
In the U.S., natural products are
often not taken as seriously as artifi-
cial, lab-produced chemicals.
But Stevens and Miranda are
hoping some enlightened investor
or sponsor will see the value of sup-
porting human trials and bringing
this supplement to the public. Tests
on rodents were clear: According
to their latest research on mice, a
single supplement taken once a day
may be able to prevent cardiovascu-
lar disease, obesity and Type 2 dia-
betes caused by high fat diets, with-
out estrogen side effects or liver
damage. Obesity and related disor-
ders account for up to 21 percent of
the money spent on U.S. health care
— $190.2 billion — according to a
2012 study published in the Journal
of Health and Economics.
“This is the first time we’ve seen
one compound with the potential to
address so many health problems,”
said Miranda.
Gail Oberst/For the Capital Press
Fred Stevens, of Oregon State University’s Linus Pauling Institute, is among the
researchers who claim that xanthohumol, an ingredient in hops, can cure metabolic
syndrome, a deadly condition caused by high-fat diets.
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