Bottoms Up: The Health Benefits of Hops

You might not naturally think of health remedies being found in a glass of beer, but as the world searches for health benefits in every possible substance, some interesting points have been made about the health value of hops, the plant commonly used for brewing your ales and lagers. The primary value of hops seems to be in their high content of anti-oxidants. Anti-oxidants are essential in fighting a wide variety of illnesses, protecting the body from cancers and other degenerative diseases. Studies have now found that hops contain an extremely high amount of anti-oxidants.

Green tea and other natural substances have been known to contain high anti-oxidants, but hops apparently outdoes them by up to 400%! Hops have also been considered as sedatives for many centuries. They have been used to aid sleep, to sooth infants, and generally as calming agents. The alcoholic drinks that contain hops are a kind of sedative as well, but the natural qualities of the plant don't reproduce the alternately wild or stultifying effects of steady drinking...at least, we hope not!

The home remedies of earlier times consisted of ingesting the resin of the plant and led to the kind of sleep that isn't followed by a hangover. Hops were also used topically to decrease inflammations. Hops remedies can still be useful outside of a beer glass. However, as with all home remedies, a doctor should be consulted first. Although hops have a reputation as a 'maternity' remedy, women who are pregnant or nursing should not take hops supplements without medical advice. It's also not the best for depressed individuals, as it is essentially a 'downer' and not an 'upper'.

As a depressant, though, hops are reputable in homeopathic treatments. So next time you start on a pitcher, toast to the redemptive healer floating in the mix, the brewing agent -par excellance-, the hops!

Recommended Hops Supplement

We have stumbled upon a company that produces a product that provides the highest quality of Hops is Xtend-Life Natural Products from New Zealand. Xtend-Life has one of the strictest regulatory environments in the world for the manufacture of dietary supplements, far exceeding U.S. FDA standards.

Their flagship product, Total Balance, contains standardized Hops, along with many other potent herbal supplement extracts, numerous vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and other speciality nutrients, many of which are documented in this site.

We here at www.InstantHealthSecret.com personally take Xtend-Life's Total Balance as the foundation of our own health regimen and have achieved excellent results: we have noticed an increase in energy, mental acuity, and general sense of well-being.