Hops

Humulus lup ulus L. – Common hop
Cannabaceae family
The raw material is the ripe hops infructescence, harvested at the start of ripening, dried in shade and ventilated. The raw material are also the secretion heads of the glandular hairs (lupulina), open at the start of ripening from female infructescences of hops.

Hops – appearance and origin:

A perennial, dioecious, herbaceous, climbing plant, common in Europe and Central Asia. It is industrially grown in many European countries, i.a. Poland, for brewing beer. Hops is thermophilic. It grows in the wild in bushes, on river banks, near fences, roadsides. Poland is world's 5th biggest hops producer.
The stem grows up to 8 m (12 m on plantations), climbing, angular, with hook-like hairs on the edges. The leaves are 3- or 5-lobed with a heart-shaped base, thick serrations, very coarse on the top. The flowers are in the angles of the leaves – the male in a loose cymose, the female have no perianths and form catkins, similar to cones.

Hops – effects and use:

The parts used in medicine are the hop strobiles (hop infructescence) and the glandular hairs from dried strobiles – lupulin. Both contain essential oil, resin, flavonoids and tannins. The oil composition varies and depends on the source of the raw material. The main ingredients are terpenes and sesquiterpenes: myrcene, farnesene, humulene, sulphur compounds, β-caryophyllene. The resin contains mainly bitter acids: humulone and lupulone with their derivatives (mainly methylbutanal). Within the flavonoid fraction there is mainly xanthohumol and quercetin and kaempferol derivatives.

The hop strobile and lupulin have sedative activity on the central nervous system, reduce the tension of smooth muscles of the gastrointestinal tract and stimulate its secretory activity due to their bitter taste. They have a mild estrogenic and a weak antibacterial effect. The estrogenic activity is used to reduce sexual arousal and for women during menopause. Hop extracts reduce menopausal hot flashes. Estrogenic compounds, however, can cause menstrual disruptions in women harvesting the infructescences and allergic reactopns. The estrogenic effect of the hop strobile is still controversial and requires further research.
Hops is used for anxiety, hyperactivity, difficulties in falling asleep and sleep disorders, and digestive disorders to stimulate appetite and increase the secretory activity of the gastrointestinal tract.

The hop strobiles have found their use also in cosmetics. Extracts are used externally for hair loss. In Souther Europe, young hop shoots are eaten like asparagus, and older stems are used as a source of textile fibre.