Hops may be best known as an ingredient in beer. But it is also a versatile medicinal herb. And though beer is never going to help you lose weight, hops just might!
Though relatively little known as a medicinal herb, hops has an impressive range of proven uses from menopause to osteoporosis to insomnia, depression, anxiety and stress and even COVID. Now a new study has added weight loss.
In this double-blind study, 19 men of healthy weight were given either a placebo or 500mg of hops extract a day. Hops reduced the amount of food eaten by a significant 17% compared to placebo. It seemed to work by significantly increasing appetite-suppressing hormones. The men felt just as full while eating less.
Interestingly, while hops decreased appetite, it affected neither the men’s subjective feeling of appetite nor their enjoyment of their food.
This study introduces hops as a herb that can suppress appetite. This finding is of potential importance to people needing to lose weight for health reasons because controlling energy intake is a key to managing weight.
Am J Clin Nutr. March 2022;115(3):925-40.