Comparative study of bioactive compounds in cultivars and spontaneous plants of hops
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abstract
Humulus lupulus L. is a species of the Cannabaceae family. Hop, as it is commonly known, is a perennial, dioecious and usually diploid (2n = 20) herbaceous plant [1]. It is in beer production that hops have their greatest economic value at the international level, gaining a recent projection due to the increase of the artisan beer industry. Due to the production of compounds with bactericidal action, particularly against Gram-negative bacteria, hops came to solve problems related to the conservation of beer [2]. However, in addition to this property, hops contain other compounds that confer sedative, diuretic and antiarthritic properties.
As an ethnobotanical use, the dried flowers were used in pillows called "hop pads", to fight insomnia. The use of dried and green hop inflorescences for diuretic uses and for disorders of the digestive tract, have been recorded in the Montesinho park area. In China, alcoholic extracts of hops were used in different dosages to treat different types of leprosy, tuberculosis and dysentery. In addition to its use in infusions as a tonic, this use has already occurred since the Middle Age where it was used and considered a medicinal herb.
