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Your wildest dreams may be coming true. A research study published in the journal Behavioral Brain Research last week has linked an ingredient in beer to improved brain function in young mice. According to the report, a type of flavonoid found in beer called xanthohumol (try to say that three times fast) appears to improve cognitive function in mice below a certain age (the flavonoid didn't have such a big influence on older mice).
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So what exactly does this compound do that's so great? Apparently, xanthohumol (found specifically in the hops used in brewing beer), could boost your spatial memory and flexiblity — so, much like similar flavonoids found in food sources like red wine and dark chocolate, this rare chemical might help you form new memories.
But before you get too excited (let the record show that we are not endorsing shotgunning a brew before your important meeting this afternoon), it's important to note two things: First, that the study tested very high amounts of xanthohumol, meaning that, as CNN explains, you would need to consume as much as 2,000 liters of beer per day to ingest the same amount as the mice did. Second, this is an early-stage study that only examined the effects of the flavonoid in mice, and the effects of this compound have not yet been examined in people (a pretty crucial next step in verifying these initial findings).
So, while it may be too early to make any definitive statements, beer may soon get a better rap for its positive cognitive affects as more studies are done. We can all hope, right?
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