Herbal / Medicinal beers

[Xander]

Sorry if this has been posted elsewhere, but I thought it's worth sharing. Very interesting read...

http://munchies.vice.com/articles/ipas-are-giving-you-man-boobs?utm_source=vicefbanz

Has anyone brewed these types of beers? How where they?

Please share or DM a recipe!

Enjoy.

 

[Moad]

Will be honest, just purchased henbane seeds ...

 

[TimT]

Henbane! Go easy on that one Moad.

 

[Mardoo]

Yep. Although these are plants some of them are heavy s**t. Seriously. You don't want to end up on the wrong side of the nightshades and jimson weed, trust me

 

[Dave70]

Not many people know this, but those hops in your favorite IPA are actually wonderful medicine for insomnia and menopause, thanks to their high phytoestrogen content. These same phytoestrogens, however, might be less desirable for men, as indicated by the common condition known among brewers as Brewer’s Droop.
Yes, you read that right: Hops are giving men man boobs.
Not many know it, and hopefully less believe it.
Sorry, but I refuse to stand by while one of my favorite ingredients is pilloried and misrepresented by half baked poorly researched nonsense.
The only mechanism by which one may attain a nice pair of tits via hoppy beer is over consumption.


http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10372741

http://www.medicaldaily.com/do-hoppy-beers-cause-man-boobs-higher-estrogen-levels-and-brewers-droop-339404

 

[wide eyed and legless]

Not many people know this, but those hops in your favorite IPA are actually wonderful medicine for insomnia and menopause, thanks to their high phytoestrogen content.


http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10372741

http://www.medicaldaily.com/do-hoppy-beers-cause-man-boobs-higher-estrogen-levels-and-brewers-droop-339404

Years ago I went into a, not sure if it was homebrew shop or herbal, asked about hops and the lady said, 'For stuffing a pillow or brewing beer'

 

[TimT]

That article's already been round the traps a bit. It's one way of brewing beer. I favour the herbal brews myself, but I don't focus on the medicinal perspective much. I'm just interested in the much broader variety of flavours you can get out of them, and the exciting possibility of reconnecting with almost-lost old ale brewing traditions.

 

[klangers]

That article is devoid of any scientific understanding on behalf of the author.

The very last line of the abstract of the reference article states: "This phytoestrogen can also be detected in beer, but the levels are low and should not pose any cause for concern."

I highly doubt phytoestrogen (or any other hormones) would survive exposure to high temperatures and alcohol. Which is why the last sentence of the abstract is key to me.

 

[TimT]

Maybe Moad just wants the pretty flowers....

But, if not, I'd definitely be careful and stick to recipes and make notes so you know pretty exactly how much henbane ends up in every glass of your homebrew. Too much will kill you.

 

[TimT]

Do hop oestrogens have a cumulative effect though? Is it prolonged exposure to them that might have an effect on a person?

 

[klangers]

Probably, but my understanding is that it would pale in comparison to the hormones found in dairy, soy, chicken and all sorts of other stuff we're told is ok to eat.

 

[TimT]

Yes, that sounds likely.

The source for that article in Vice is Stephen Harrod Buhner's book Sacred Healing and Herbal Brews. It is a damned good book and it does give you plenty of information on lots of weird and wonderful herbs, including discussion of their medicinal properties. But I distrust Buhner's scientific advice, and sometimes his ideas are straight out whacky - for instance, somewhere he has a passage about how to make an old-style brewing stick of the sort that would be used to stir brews and add yeast to the brew (from notches in the stick). He instructs the reader to "call on the Gods" with the stick, possibly while uttering some kind of ritual chant...

But I look upon that stuff mostly as the instructions of a daffy but loveable uncle, because he clearly does love brewing and he has a wealth of information about brewing traditions. I would never have found out about alehoof if it hadn't been for Buhner, for instance, or wild lettuce - and so on.

 

[technobabble66]

Do hop oestrogens have a cumulative effect though? Is it prolonged exposure to them that might have an effect on a person?

The phytoestrogens in hops, black cohosh, etc are estimated to be roughly 1/100th the strength of endogenous oestrogen's.
They very weakly competitively inhibit endogenous oestrogen's - so herbalists use them to blunt the effects of very high levels of endogenous oestrogen's.
Conversely, if a girl has very low levels of oestrogen's, the phytoestrogens are intended to very weakly contribute to the overall oestrogen effect.

Men have different levels of oestrogen receptors and essentially don't have the various tissues that are particularly sensitive to oestrogen. So basically that's saying what Dave70 et al said - the very weak oestrogenic effect of hops in IPAs etc is going to be negligible, at least in men. The man boobs are from being a fat *******, not a big girl.

FWIW, alcohol has the effect of increasing endogenous oestrogen levels by reducing the kidney's clearance of excess oestrogen's in the body. So given the comparative strength of endogenous oestrogens, the alcohol itself is likely to have a much greater impact on overall oestrogenic effects within the body, compared to phytoestrogens from hops. So the man boobs are from being an alcoholic fat ******* ...

2c

PS: i'd suggest the negative health effect of the alcohol far outweighs any real health benefit of the herbal components in the beer. It might help a fraction more than not having them in there, but i'd say if you're that worried about your health then drink less booze. And if you prefer the succulent nectar of an IPA, then just enjoy 1 really good one - quality rather than quantity.

 

[Mattrox]

Probably, but my understanding is that it would pale in comparison to the hormones found in dairy, soy, chicken and all sorts of other stuff we're told is ok to eat.

The use of hormones in chickens is banned in Australia.

On a KFC bucket "Our chicken in 100% hormone free*"


*as is all Australian chicken

 

[klangers]

Yes, added hormones via the food that the animal eats. Much like fruit juice contains no added sugar, but still contains sugar.

 

[technobabble66]

Yes, added hormones via the food that the animal eats. Much like fruit juice contains no added sugar, but still contains sugar.

How else do exogenous hormones get into the chickens, just out of interest?
Or are you thinking of antibiotics?

Sorry OP - Very off topic!

 

[klangers]

I don't really know, but I was originally referring to the absurdity of panicking about hormonal effects from beer by comparing to the natural (not exogenous) hormones present in other foods that are happily eaten. I picked chickens because I am led to believe that they have a naturally higher concentration of estrogen than other meats.

 

[Dave70]

Yes, added hormones via the food that the animal eats. Much like fruit juice contains no added sugar, but still contains sugar.

The hormone hysteria is just more food woo most likely whipped up by the likes of PETA to stop us eating meat.
Even the most powerful anabolic steroids, like Trenbolone Acetate which is the one given to some cattle to maintain shipping weight have half lives of 72 hours max.
Same goes for milk. Yes, milk does contain the naturally occurring hormone IGF-1 and this has been the launching pad for much bullshit and apprehension. Only problems is it cant actually be absorbed through the gut or intestine. Sorry vegans and organophiles - no win.

The reason steroid using athletes have to inject shit into their asses on a weekly basis isn't because they like needles, its because for the hormone (steroid ) to do its job it has bypass the liver and kidneys.
There are oral steroids, but these are notoriously hard on organs like the liver.
Basically, if you chopped up last years Mr Olympia when he was a week or two off his cycle, you would simply be eating cuts of hypertrophied muscle tissue, not five kinds of steroids and growth hormone.