The hops found in beer not only add flavor, but also may lessen the damaging effects of alcohol on the liver, a new study in mice suggests.

In the study, the researchers gave mice regular beer with hops, a special beer without hops, or plain ethanol (alcohol). After 12 hours, the mice that were given the beer with hops showed less buildup of fat in their livers than the mice that were given ethanol. In contrast, the mice that were given beer without hops had about the same level of fat accumulation in their livers as the mice that were given ethanol.

“Our data suggest that hops content in beer is at least in part responsible for the less damaging effects of beer on the liver,” over the short-term in mice, the researchers from Friedrich Schiller University Jena in Germany wrote in their study, published online Sept. 22 in the journal Alcohol and Alcoholism.