Hops
by Gudrun Maybaum
Spring 2004
N.O. Urticaceae
When most people hear the word hops, they think of beer or nerve tonic. It is one of the few plants that is native in countries almost all over the globe.
The first mention of hops is found in early Roman times. According to Pliny, the Romans grew it in their vegetable gardens and ate it the way we eat asparagus today. In some parts of Great Britain, hops is still eaten that way.
In the 14th century, the Flanders started to use it for making beer. In
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the 15th and 16th centuries, Kings Henry VI and Henry VIII of Britain prohibited its use, because they thought it was a weed which caused melancholy if consumed. Parliament petitioned against using hops in drinks, because it spoiled the taste. It wasn't until the 17th century that the Britons discovered its usefulness and started using it as a medicinal herb and for brewing beer.
Hops is also native to North America, and was used in earlier centuries
as a remedy for different problems. In the late 19th century, doctors started to prescribe hops as a diuretic, tonic and sedative.
Today hops is mainly cultivated in the United States, South America, Australia, Great Britain and Germany. Most of it is used for beer and as a nerve tonic. For beer it is mainly used for its taste and as a natural preservative.
Hops contains high amounts of vitamin C, B vitamins and trace minerals. Because more than 100 constituents have been identified in hops, it has been subjected to extensive studies. Some of them focused on antibacterial/antimicrobial activities, treatment of diabetes, gastritis and cancer. Though there is not clear evidence of its efficacy in the treatment of cancer, and the effect on diabetes is insignificant, hops has been shown to be effective as an antimicrobial against the bacillus subtilis, staphlococcus aureus and trichophylon mentagrophytes, and as a strong antispasm agent.
Herbalists today prescribe it for many different symptoms, the primary one being a nerve tonic for anxiety, stress, insomnia, other nervous disorders as well as irritable digestive tract. Hops is also used for the urinary tract, irritable bladders, sluggish liver, rheumatic pain, inflammation, headaches and constipation internally. Warmed in a pillow, the herb relieves such pains as toothaches, headaches, rheumatic pains, bruises, coughs, muscle spasms and eases swelling. The juice of hops is sometimes used to cleanse the blood. Hop tea is known to reduce fever.
Growing hops is rather difficult, because it needs deep, rich soil and southern exposure. The ground has to be very loose, almost pulverized, before planting. The first two years, it grows very little. It takes 3 years before the plant starts to bear anything, and then it needs 14- to 18-foot long poles.
References:
Today's Herbal Health - Louise Tenney, M.H.
The Little Herb Encyclopedia, Jack Ritchason, N.D.
Herbal Medicine, Sharol Tilgner, N.D.
http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/h/hops--32.html
http://www.csdl.tamu.edu/FLORA/Wilson/481/medbot/humumed.htm
http://wilkes1.wilkes.edu/~kklemow/Humulus.html
http://medic.med.uth.tmc.edu/path/00001456.htm