Occurrence of resveratrol and piceid in American and European hop cones

The recent discovery in hops of trans-resveratrol and its glucoside, trans-piceid, both famous in wine for their potential role in the "French paradox", opens new doors to understanding hop health benefits. In the present work, trans-resveratrol and trans-piceid were quantified by HPLC-APCI-MS/MS in 40 American and European hop cone samples from harvests of 2004, 2005, and 2006. Their content varies greatly, in the range 0.5-12 mg/kg. All German varieties revealed low amounts of stilbenes. The highest concentrations were found in Cascade (2004) and Willamette (2004 and 2006), two American low-alpha-acid varieties. Yet, probably because trans-resveratrol is a phytoalexin, a strong influence of harvest year was also observed.