The Surprising Facts About Non-Alcoholic Beer And Your Liver

Time to read: 5-6 minutes

Non-alcoholic beer is not always 100% alcohol-free and can contain some alcohol, according to labeling regulations. There aren’t many, if any, non-alcoholic beers that are alcohol-free. According to several studies, non-alcoholic beers may contain more alcohol than is indicated on the label. Even though it has .5% alcohol as stated on its label, the non-alcoholic beer can have much more.

We must first examine the functioning of a healthy liver to comprehend the effects of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beer on it. One of your body’s major organs, the liver, carries out a variety of crucial metabolic tasks. Its main job is to transform the nutrients in our diet into compounds that our systems can use, store those substances, and then deliver those substances to our cells as needed.

So, is non-alcoholic beer really bad for your liver? Well, there are a lot of different sources on the internet that are divided into this.

How Does Alcohol Affect Your Liver

We must first consider how a healthy functioning liver works in order to comprehend the effects of alcoholic beer on the liver. One of your body’s major organs, the liver carries out a variety of crucial metabolic tasks. Its main job is to transform the nutrients in our diet into compounds that our systems can use, store those substances, and then deliver those substances to our cells as needed.

Most importantly for our current inquiry, the liver also processes harmful compounds, turns them into innocuous ones, or ensures that they are expelled from the body. When we drink alcoholic beer, the liver serves as a powerhouse to break down the alcohol and transform it into a form that your body can absorb. 

Understanding how quickly your body turns food and liquids into energy is essential to comprehending how alcohol affects your liver. One standard drink’s worth of alcohol, or one ounce, can be processed by a healthy liver per hour. Alcohol will build up in your blood and body tissues until it can be adequately metabolized if you consume more drinks than this because your liver and system will get saturated with alcohol.

Ready To Try Non-Alcoholic Beer?

Athletic Brewing isn’t the leader in the non-alcoholic beer world without reason. This sampler pack gives you the chance to try their two flagship beers, Run Wild IPA & Upside Dawn Golden. We’ve also included a sample of their excellent seasonal offerings and a sparkling hop water. 

Concerns Regarding The Dangers of Non-Alcoholic Beer

Although drinking alcohol carries hazards, do those risks diminish with less consumption? They sometimes can be. Non-alcoholic beer has been proven in several studies to aid with anxiety and shorten the time it takes to fall asleep. However, there are still concerns regarding its effects on certain people – those who have an alcohol addiction and are trying to get better. 

In one study, a group of experts from California claims that for some alcoholics, the smell alone may be sufficient to cause cravings and subsequent relapse. According to the researchers, both alcohol and the expectation of alcohol may increase levels of the brain chemical dopamine, which is associated with emotions of happiness and pleasure. Another risk is adopting the same mindset and habits while consuming N/A beer as you did when consuming the real thing.

The greatest suggestion for people seeking to stay sober in the interim would be to avoid anything that even smells like alcohol. The development of a drug-free lifestyle, in which the individual attempting to maintain sobriety replaces good activities for habits from the past, is one of the methods that recovery specialists advise to avoid relapse and sustain sobriety.

A Study on The Effects of N/A Beer on Patients With Cirrhosis

Cirrhosis of the liver is a prevalent condition that impairs quality of life and is the 13th most common cause of death worldwide. The majority of cirrhosis complications, such as ascites, variceal bleeding, hepatorenal syndrome, and hepatic encephalopathy are caused by the emergence of portal hypertension.

A randomized, open clinical trial studied 43 cirrhotic patients who were randomly assigned to one of two groups: the intervention group (non-alcoholic beer + diet + exercise) and the control group (water + diet + exercise).

Implementing diets and exercise regimens are both parts of nutritional therapy for patients with cirrhosis. On the other hand, N/A beer has a variety of substances that have anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and nutritional benefits.

Non-alcoholic beer has also been utilized in various clinical situations, including nursing and post-exercise rehydration. It has been proven to alter the diversity of the gut microbiota in a positive way. It also enhances endothelial function and reduces oxidative stress. So, it is possible to think of non-alcoholic beer as a “functional” supplement.

In the trial, the endothelial function improved in both groups. Both groups experienced improvements in quality of life. The intervention group experienced improvements across a greater number of domains than the control group, which saw improvements in only two of the evaluated nutritional indicators.

The non-alcoholic beer, diet, and exercise regimen appear to be safe and well tolerated in individuals with cirrhosis and improve endothelial function, nutritional status, and quality of life. Still, further confirmation of these findings is required.

For more information about the study, you may access this link.

Read This If You’re In Recovery

Maintaining sobriety is challenging, and many people have already spent years trying to break as many rules as possible to indulge in drugs or alcohol. If they drink a non-alcoholic beer, it’s just another rule they’ve broken so they may keep drinking excessively. They won’t get drunk from the non-alcoholic beer, and they are drastically reducing the alcohol they consume, even if they might not be at risk for driving while intoxicated. 

Another problem is that non-alcoholic beer may contain more alcohol than they anticipate. This implies that they might consume more alcohol than they anticipated. While having one or two beers at night won’t make someone intoxicated, it can lead to cravings and relapse. 

​​Avoiding all alcohol will be necessary for those who wish to ensure their addiction recovery. They should avoid non-alcoholic beers as a result. While non-alcoholic beers are increasingly gaining popularity, not everyone should choose them. 

Non-alcoholic beers should be avoided by those who are expecting, nursing, have liver problems, are in recovery from a substance abuse addiction, and have similar conditions.

Cutting Alcohol Consumption Completely vs Moderately

So, can non-alcoholic beer be consumed by alcoholics or those in recovery? In the end, it comes down to what is convenient or advantageous for you specifically. However, it’s possible that the recovery strategy you select will also matter.

Completely

People may decide to entirely give up drinking for a variety of reasons. Some people might believe that giving up alcohol completely is the only way to regulate how much they drink. Some people may need to stop drinking because of liver disease or other medical issues.

Alcohol-free beverages might still be okay for you if you’ve decided to abstain. However, you might also determine that anything that even remotely resembles alcohol is forbidden. This may be particularly accurate for non-alcoholic beer, which nevertheless contains very little alcohol.

Moderately

Your response to N/A beverages may differ if you’ve decided to cut back rather than fully stop. The trace levels in N/A beer may not be detrimental if you’re already permitting a little bit of alcohol in your diet. It might also be a useful weapon in your arsenal for sticking to your limitations or spacing out beverages.

Many drinkers find themselves in a “gray area” where they don’t identify as alcoholics but nevertheless wish to cut back on their intake. Others discover that they can maintain their sobriety better if they can still consume a tiny amount of alcohol. Drinks without alcohol could undoubtedly aid in achieving this goal.

We’re all aware of it; some of us choose to embrace it, while others make every effort—including quitting beer—to do away with it. The question that seems to be on everyone’s mind these days, as non-alcoholic beers start to appear left, right, and center, is: “Is non-alcoholic beer genuinely any healthier for you than regular beer?” 

Non-alcoholic beers not only outperform their alcoholic counterparts in terms of calories but also in terms of flavor! A non-alcoholic beer typically has many more calories than your standard non-alcoholic beverage options such as lemon, lime, and bitters or a coke. 

A lemon, lime, and bitters or coke would actually have very similar calories to a full-strength beer. A regular 375ml coke can has 140 calories, but lemon, lime, and bitters drink may have between 100 and 150 calories per serving. 

Don’t be deceived into thinking that cutting out alcohol will help you reduce the calories in your drinks.

Because of the method used in their brewing, non-alcoholic beers contain far less fat and have far fewer calories. 

Even though non-alcoholic beers often have fewer calories than their alcoholic counterparts, they frequently have extraordinarily high sugar content. You won’t notice much of a difference between most non-alcoholic beers’ sugar content and that of a soft drink or another alcoholic beverage. 

Other non-alcoholic beer companies enhance the flavors of their beverages by adding artificial sweeteners. But when non-alcohol beer is brewed, the majority of the sugar naturally ferments out of the finished product.

Overall, if you’re searching for low-calorie solutions, non-alcohol beer is a healthy substitute. Check out this calorie comparison of non-alcoholic beers. 

Non-Alcoholic Beer Wrap-Up

In conclusion, there is nothing unhealthy about alcohol-free beers. It has a number of health advantages in addition to being among the healthiest drinks available at the bar, just like vegan non-alcoholic wines. In many cases, non-alcoholic beer is a better choice than alcoholic beer and helps with post-workout recuperation, encourages better sleep, and prevents dehydration.

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