Now, beer joins the medicinal party

After having struck a major blow against the good life, with its pronouncement that red meat might lead to cancer, science has been trying to make amends. It recently came out with one more iteration of the sound benefits of chocolate. Now, it is the turn of beer to join the party, or rather, since we are talking science, for the set of things that describe the good life and the set of things that yield health benefits to form a sizeable overlap, or a common non-null subset. Beer, it turns out, contains cancer-combating compounds. Now for the bad news. Scientists are not content to deliver hops -which beer contains and, in turn, contains cancer-combating compounds -to humanity thirsting for good health in their wholesome, frothy , natural habitat but are bent upon extracting humulones from hops in the lab and converting them into pills. We may , however, forgive scientists their sins. After all, all science cannot be an entertaining Ted talk.

The field is now open for further research, building on the initial hopeful finding. Does cancer aggravate in winter and retreat in summer? Are bitter beers, which presumably contain more hops than light lagers, better medical soldiers than their less embittered cousins? And, finally , will cancer join the swelling ranks of those who rue global warming and consequent rising beer levels?