Is N/A Beer The New Post-Run Recovery Beverage?

While research has previously shown that regular beer can be good for you after a run, N/A beers can extend many of those same benefits.

Beer and running have long been an item, the happiest of combinations between one of our favorite athletic pastimes and our favorite adult beverage. What hits the spot after a good, long trail run? A refreshing beer, of course. And who doesn’t love a road race that ends with a free brew for all over-21 participants? You’ve earned those hops, after all. And thanks to some creative Canadians who gave the world the gift of the Beer Mile, where participants have to chug a beer before each of four laps around the track, we have an epic combination of the two that includes drinking while you run. But what if we told you one of the additional benefits of non-alcoholic beer was that it was even better for you in post-run recovery than its leaded counterparts? According to recent research, possibly even more healthy than an actual sports drink itself. Crazy, right?

According to studies, regular beer can have positive impacts on the body after a workout, particularly for those who are already healthy and in shape, despite the alcohol. This is in large part due to the presence of polyphenols, an antioxidant that can protect the body from oxidative stress and potentially associated pathologies such as cancers, coronary heart disease, and inflammation. However, the presence of alcohol will undermine some of these benefits to at least some degree, due to being a diuretic that promotes water loss. In simpler terms, both regular and non-alcoholic beer can be good for you in a post-workout recovery, but the benefits of N/A extend further because it’s not also dehydrating you like regular beer can. Both can also be considered better than energy drinks in part due to their simplicity, with more natural ingredients that generally just include malt, hops, yeast and water. If you’ve ever read the side of a Gatorade bottle, you know the list of is a bit longer and much harder to pronounce.

So should you replace all of your sports drinks and water bottles with non-alcoholic beer? Putting research aside, there’s still a time and place for beer whether it has alcohol or not, and moderation is still important. Water should always have its place in your post-activity regimen, but the research for sports drinks is a bit fuzzier about whether it’s the best place to get your electrolytes. The good news is that at the very least, non-alcoholic beer should be an option you can go with confidently after a workout. Non-alcoholic breweries certainly have noticed, showing up at road races, hosting fitness expos, and sponsoring athletes who may or may not drink alcohol beyond N/A. It’s all part of being an integral part of the health and wellness community, as the N/A movement has become. We’ll drink to that, right after we get our afternoon run in.