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Posted on Feb 02, 2004, 6 a.m.
By Bill Freeman
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Drinking beer or eating certain components found in the beverage seems to protect against colon cancer in rats, new research shows. Whether this holds true in humans, however, remains to be determined. In the new study, Dr. Hajime Nozawa, from Kirin Brewery Co. in Yokohama, Japan, and colleagues assessed the ability of beer or its components to prevent a type of chemically induced colon cancer in rats.
In the new study, Dr. Hajime Nozawa, from Kirin Brewery Co. in Yokohama, Japan, and colleagues assessed the ability of beer or its components to prevent a type of chemically induced colon cancer in rats. The results are reported in the International Journal of Cancer.
Consumption of beer or malt extract for two weeks reduced the amount of DNA damage that occurred. Moreover, beer intake for the full five-week study period reduced the formation of early lesions that can become colon cancer.
The ability of beer to inhibit these lesions depended on the type of malt with dark-roasted malts being more effective than pilsner malts. In addition, only freeze-dried beer, not ethanol, had a protective effect.
Intake of malt extract also inhibited the early lesions, but consumption of hops extract did not, the researchers note.
In a 42-week follow-up study, beer intake was associated with a 22-percent reduction in the tumor rate, including a big drop in the number of cancers.
"The results suggest that daily moderate consumption of beer may reduce the risk of cancer susceptibility in colon," the authors state. However, further studies are needed to verify this and to determine the mechanisms involved, they add.
SOURCE: International Journal of Cancer, January 2004.
