Another Good Reason to Drink Brewskis

Now here’s some news to make you raise your stein to science and down another brewski with that burger.

Japanese researchers at Okayama University near Hiroshima have found that beer may help fight cancer--that’s right, it may actually inhibit the action of cancer-causing compounds--at least in the laboratory.

They tested 24 different beers--17 lagers, four stouts, two ales and one nonalcoholic brew--as well as red and white wines, Japanese sake, brandy and whiskey, to see if they protected salmonella bacteria against mutations.

Nearly all the beers showed “potent inhibitory effect” against damaging compounds called heterocyclic amines, produced when you cook protein-rich foods like meat.

The stouts were the most potent in preventing the chemicals from wreaking havoc on the bacteria. Red and white wines and Japanese sake were comparable to stout. Brandy was more powerful. Whiskey, nonalcoholic beer and one of the lagers had no effect.

When the researchers fed freeze-dried stout to mice, along with some of the damaging chemicals, the stout significantly decreased DNA changes in the animals’ livers.

Although the researchers haven’t pinpointed what beer component is at work, they suspect chemicals from hops--not the alcohol--because they got protective effects when they tested an extract from boiled hops.

Their work appears in the January issue of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, published by the American Chemical Society.

Pets May Be Better Judges of Character

Now here’s a study that adds a whole new twist to the phrase “animal magnetism.” Pets may help you judge whether a date might make a good mate.

So says Dr. C.B. Chastain, a professor of veterinary medicine and surgery at the University of Missouri-Columbia’s College of Veterinary Medicine.

According to Chastain, author of a newsletter for veterinarians, if your pet trusts and respects someone, the chances are that person is pretty likable.

“Watch how people treat animals and how the animals respond to them to pick people whose company you will enjoy and who deserve your trust,” he advises.

Pets have a natural knack for detecting phoniness, he says.

“A lot of human relationships are very superficial, and a lot of times they’re not very sincere. An animal can detect whether you’re superficial or insincere. . . . I think they can pick up on that a lot faster than humans do because humans are distracted by a lot of things they think mean sincerity, like direct stares, waving the arms while talking,” Chastain says.

Staring the animal in the eye or making lots of loud noises will “repel the animal. All of those are actions that someone who is trying too hard to make a first impression would have,” Chastain says.

NYC Ticket Writers Failed Stress Test

Scientists working away in their laboratories have long observed that shouting and other stressful contacts between people hike blood pressure and heart rates. But they wondered how they could demonstrate that in real life.

Who better to test than a group of 115 New York City parking-ticket writers, those streetwalking enforcers routinely reviled by the public?

Researchers fitted them with blood-pressure cuffs to monitor them every 15 minutes through the workday.

It climbed when they talked to supervisors and co-workers. But it rose highest when they were face to face with civilians, according to Elizabeth Brondolo, an associate professor at St. John’s University in Queens, N.Y. The blood pressure elevations persisted even after their encounters ended.

During an average day, the parking agents had three encounters when they were yelled at, harassed, insulted or threatened by drivers.

“People get very angry. It’s very hard to park in New York. Everybody here is pressed for time. The tickets are very expensive, $55,” Brandolo said. The most stressful situations weren’t necessarily those with obvious conflict, just talking “to a member of the public.”

The authors speculate that ticket cops may raise their voices or talk more quickly when they’re under stress, may breathe differently and may bottle up their anger, all of which can drive up blood pressure. In exchange for their participation, the subjects were offered conflict-management and stress-reduction training.

The work from Brondolo and colleagues at St. John’s and at the State University of New York at Stony Brook appears in January’s issue of the journal Psychophysiology.