Back in the day, when Lance Armstrong was the poster child for high performance athletes, he was also the face of Michelob Ultra. Why? Well, the brand position was premium, and understandably low calorie tends to resonate well amongst those of us looking to improve our body fat percentage and still wanting a treat at the end of the day. 
20 years later, a couple of public issues in the bag, Lance is unlikely to feature in a global beer campaign anytime soon, but the premise remains the same. You can do all the work and pay thousands for the right kit, but if you put the wrong fuel in the tank your performance won’t improve.
Final word on Lance, whatever you think of him as an athlete, make sure you are aware of the impact Livestrong (originally the Lance Armstrong Foundation) has and continues to have.
So what is it about beer that makes it the reference point? Sports are social, as a spectator or a competitor, and be it with a teammate of opponent, a beer is a regular part of our after-action ritual. Our treat at the end of a long training session. Our celebration for a job well done.
For some, maybe a lot of us, this also becomes a justification. We can drink a few more because we exercise, forgetting why you were exercising in the first place. In 2022 the research paper ‘Fit & Tipsy’ concluded that ‘Higher fitness levels are significantly related to greater alcohol consumption among a large cohort of adult patients.’ Meaning that as a population we drink more when we exercise more.
So don’t worry, it’s not just you, or indeed a recent phenomenon. The 2021 paper ‘Got Beer?’ catalogued studies going back 30 years that concluded the following:
Beer consumption is also highly prevalent among sportspeople. At the collegiate level, athletes are more likely than non-athletes to drink beer (Overman & Terry, 1991) and binge drink (Nelson & Wechsler, 2001).
Nearly four in five female athletes of a Division I sample consumed alcohol, with light beer being the most popular beverage (Martin, 1998).
In elite sports, former Finnish team athletes consumed more beer per month than controls (Kontro et al., 2017).
So, if we’re all equivalent to elite Finnish athletes, why does it matter?
Beer isn't a sports drink
Full-fat beer is a diuretic, so much as you wouldn’t reach for a coffee to replace fluids, an alcoholic beer is not a smart choice. The 2016 paper ‘Post-Exercise Rehydration’ concluded exactly that, and this 2014 study concluded that alcohol ingestion suppresses the anabolic response in skeletal muscle and may therefore impair recovery and adaptation to training and/or subsequent performance. In laymen’s terms, you’ll be more dehydrated and your muscles will both take longer to recover and be weaker as a result.
But, it doesn’t have to be a beer free recovery. While not intentionally done, when we sent our Bavarian Helles for lab testing, as well as the very low calorie count (66 calories and 3.6g of sugar per 330ml bottle), it came back as isotonic. Yup, just like Lucozade, and a beer that has won multiple international awards for taste.
There’s more…
Reduced inflammation and fewer colds, 3.25 fold lower. Ascribed to ‘benefits to the beer polyphenols’ (natural chemicals found in all beers at 366–875 mg of polyphenols per litre that have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties). This 2012 paper ‘Nonalcoholic Beer’ studied 277 men who competed in the Munich Marathon and concluded ‘ingestion of nonalcoholic beer polyphenols for 3 weeks before the Munich Marathon would attenuate post-race inflammation and decrease URTI (Upper Respiratory Tract Infection) incidence’. In alcoholic beer these effects will be masked by the inflammatory impact of alcohol.
So What?
So, you’ll be better rested, better hydrated, more in control of your calorie intake, have less inflammation, fewer colds, your muscles will recover faster and you will end up stronger.
With new studies coming through, prompting the revised guidance in Canada stating ‘zero alcohol is the only risk-free approach. If you must drink at all, two drinks maximum each week is deemed low-risk’ and in the UK pandemic related drinking produced a 27% increase in alcohol-specific deaths, defined as a direct consequence of alcohol.
It’s clear that the way we think of alcohol is going to change, but if you’re looking for your body to perform the way you aspire to, it seems clear that alcohol free beer is the right choice.
Just make sure it’s one brewed for award winning taste.
🍻Cheers!🍻
ABOUT NIRVANA BREWERY:
WE ARE THE UK’S ONLY NO/LOW ALCOHOL DEDICATED BREWERY, ONE OF ONLY 16 SOIL ASSOCIATION CERTIFIED ORGANIC BREWERIES AND THE ONLY ONE IN LONDON.
WE BELIEVE THAT OUTSTANDING BEER DOESN’T NEED ALCOHOL, THAT AWARD WINNING FLAVOUR IS NOT TIED TO ABV, AND THAT DRINKING WITH FRIENDS DOESN’T HAVE TO MEAN A SLOW START THE NEXT DAY.
BREWING SINCE 2016, OUR BEERS CONTAIN NO ANIMAL PRODUCTS, LESS ALCOHOL THAN ORANGE JUICE AND ARE BETWEEN 33 AND 66 CALORIES PER BOTTLE.
