Have a Beer?

I'm always excited about any wellness advice that goes against the Puritanical approach. Lately we've been seeing some interesting research coming out about the advantages of drinking beer after a workout. As one who gets cravings for a Hopalicious pale ale after hot summer exercise, I'm all in favor of this trend.

Here are some findings:

1) Spanish researchers found that drinking a pint after exercise hydrated athletes better than water. We know that beer promotes urination, but apparently not enough to cancel out this effect in the short term. Beer has a high electrolyte content, and a small amount of protein in addition to the carbs. This all helps restore blood glucose levels rise quickly, easing the recovery process. Also, we've seen so much about fermented foods having more bioavailable nutrients, nutrients which have been pre-digested by bacteria and yeast, and are easier for us to absorb. Here's a more in-depth and enjoyable analysis of the study.

2) In another study, unsurprisingly run by a German university, nonalcoholic beer aided marathon recovery, reducing inflammation and fending off respiratory infections following intense training. This article is a little misleading: in the beginning, it says that only nonalcoholic beer was effective, but later reports that alcoholic beer wasn't tested.  So we don't really know. Still, if it were alcoholic, you couldn't very well drink the sheer amount of beer used in the study, unless you're one of the late-night bicycle enthusiasts who populate Madison. Apparently some of the benefits of beer relate to it's polyphenol content, which is even higher in regular beer, but may be working against the alcohol in that case.

Most of the articles on the subject trip over themselves to emphasize that non-alcoholic beer was being tested in the second case, and I'm sure no one wants to get sued or induce alcoholism by recommending beer as a sports drink. I also suspect also that our cultural background makes it verboten to advocate for things which are so hedonistic.

On the other hand, might the muscle relaxing effects of alcoholic beer also contribute to muscle recovery? I know from tai chi practice how much it helps to stay relaxed when doing difficult movements, and massage can help with muscle soreness following overtraining. So it seems reasonable. When I volunteered at the Madison Marathon a couple of years ago, in the massage tent at the finish line, we were told by the medical staff that we should suggest a (regular) beer for recovery.

So as of now, I'm drinking a beer after training, especially as the hot weather approaches. Cheers!