GettyIf you needed another reason to head to the pub, here it is.
A new study has said that drinking beer can actually help you lose weight.
A new study from researchers at Oregon State University found that xanthohumol, a flavonoid found in hops and beer, helped mice lose weight and lower their bad cholesterol levels.
They split 48 male mice into two groups. Both groups were fed high-fat diets, but one was given 30-60 milligrams of xanthohumol per kilogram of bodyweight each day for 12 weeks while the other wasn’t.
FlickrThe mice given the higher dosage of xanthuhumol cut their bad cholestoral levels by 80 per cent, and they gained 22 per cent less weight than the other group – even though they were eating the same high-fat diet.
Miranda, a research assistant professor at Oregon State University’s Linus Pauling Institute told The Telegraph: “This is the first time we’ve seen one compound with the potential to address so many health problems. These were very dramatic improvements.”
So basically, xanthuhomol, found in beer, could prevent you from putting on weight. Which is amazing.
There’s a catch though… the mice had a ton of xanthohumol in order to see results.
Broadly notes that if you were 10 stone, you’d have to knock back 3,500 pints of beer within 24 hours to get the human equivalent of xanthohumol the teeny tiny mice got. Or in other words, you’d be dead before seeing any results.
PABut all hope isn’t lost – researchers hope to bring a pure version of xanthohumol to the market that could pack the power you need to lose weight all in one pill.
Cristobal Miranda, the lead author of the study, told Broadly that drug companies have already contacted them and want to get more information on the study. So who knows, we could have a magical beer flavoured weight-loss pill over-the-counter soon.
In the meantime, we can pretend that those Saturday night pints are helping us lose weight. Who knows? Maybe the low level of xanthohumol we ingest may just have some effect on weight loss. Maybe.
