Hops

 

Hops—has a soothing effect, promotes sleep and supports digestion. 

What are hops? 

Hops are the cone-like flowers, or strobiles, of Humulus lupulus. They are famous for bringing bitterness and aroma to beer, but their chemistry has a story of its own. That makes hops an unusually neat bridge between the history of alcoholic drinks and the science of functional alternatives. 

How do hops work? 

Several hop compounds have been studied directly at GABA-A receptors. 

These include prenylflavonoids—flavonoid is simply a type of naturally occurring plant compound. In laboratory research, these compounds positively modulated GABA-A receptors: in other words, they increased the receptor’s response to the GABA already present in the brain. [1] GABA Labs’ published research also identifies hops among plants containing chemistry of interest to the search for functional alcohol alternatives. [2] 

Why does SENTIA use hops? 

Hops have spent centuries sharing a glass with alcohol. We are interested in what happens when you look beyond the ethanol and examine the plant itself. Its naturally occurring GABA-related chemistry makes hops a particularly interesting ingredient in SENTIA. 

Which SENTIA products contain hops? 

• GABA Gold GABA Gold

Hops FAQs 

- Are hops only used to make beer? 
No. Hops have a long history of botanical use beyond beer.  

- Which hops compounds have been studied with GABA? 
Xanthohumol, isoxanthohumol and 8-prenylnaringenin have all been studied experimentally at GABA-A receptors. [1] 

Sources 

[1] Benkherouf et al. Positive allosteric modulation of native and recombinant GABA-A receptors by hops prenylflavonoids, 2019. 
[2] Nutt et al. Functional Alternatives to Alcohol, Nutrients, 2022.