Benefits Of Replacing Regular Beer With Non-Alcoholic Beer
How many of you have had bad hangovers and regret drinking or partying too hard? Well, we have a solution for that and its non-alcoholic beer. Non-alcoholic beer has 0% alcohol content and it aims to produce the same taste as the regular beer without the effects of standard alcoholic beers. It is known to have better effects compared to the alcoholic beer. Non-alcoholic beer is proven to be healthier than the normal beer. It has about 11 calories lesser than the traditional alcoholic beer, per cup. It is also known to help in sleeping and reduce the feelings of anxiety.
An article published in the Neurochemical journal says that Beer contains hops, which is a main flavoring ingredient and a preservative. It has sedative and hypnotic properties that helps in reducing anxiety. Likewise, it also consists of essential amino acids which help in relaxing as they inhibit serotonin receptors in the brain. Relaxation leads to slowing the heart rate, improving digestion and maintaining blood sugar levels in the body. It also reduces chronic pain and muscle pains.
Nonalcoholic beer has about 10 percent of the recommended amount of a few different B vitamins. These vitamins contain folate, which helps in the production of new cells in your body. It also contains about 10% of choline and vitamin A that helps in the functioning of nerves. Also, non-alcoholic beer contains niacin and riboflavin which helps in digestion of food by breaking down the food molecules. Alcohol consumption during breastfeeding is known to have negative effects. Hence, alcoholic beer can be replaced by non-alcoholic beer, which can be consumed by pregnant women and new mothers. Alcohol content in breast milk and the blood stream are found to be equal. Also, after consumption of alcohol, the production of the breast milk may be reduced as alcohol reduces the production on the hormone oxytocin. Whereas, non-alcoholic beer helps in the production of prolactin, a hormone which helps in the production of breastmilk. The reason behind this mechanism is unknown but it could be due to some specific compounds derived from barley, which is the main source of carbohydrate in beer.
Currently there is no evidence or studies to state that non-alcoholic beers do not affect pregnancy as even non-alcoholic beer consists a little percentage of ethanol. But it can be said that these beverages reduce the risk when compared to the regular alcoholic beverages. So, it means that pregnant women consuming non-alcoholic drinks are prone to consuming little amount of alcohol not just in non-alcoholic beverages but it other types of beverages too. But these amount of intake do not show any major effect on the baby. So, it can be recommended to pregnant women, but it is always better to take the doctor’s opinion into consideration before taking any further measures. Alcoholic beer is known to have positive effects on cardiovascular health. It is the same in the case of non-alcoholic beer.
Two studies showed that poly phenols present in beer influence cardiovascular health. In one study, men between the age groups 55-75 years were given 990ml of non-alcoholic beer each day for four weeks. It was observed that there was a decrease in inflammation factors such as the IL-6 and a 12-16% decrease in blood pressure. In another study conducted with the same subjects and research design, it was found that there was an increase in the production of stem cells that repair and maintain the endothelial walls of the blood vessels. It was concluded that these results were mostly likely caused due to the beer component hops, which contained polyphenol and xanthohumol.
In conclusion, all these researches and studies tell us that non-alcoholic beer has better benefits when compared to alcoholic beer. There are many advantages of this product which also include the ability to drive after several drinks, reduction of kidney/liver damage and less hangover symptoms apart from those mention in the above paragraphs. It can be consumed by people on antibiotics, recovering alcoholics and pregnant women. Hence, I think that production of non-alcoholic can help in benefiting the society and the young generations and avoid deaths and deformities caused due to alcoholism.
References
- ANNE, M. (2017, October 03). The Nutrition of Non-Alcoholic Beer. Retrieved from Live Strong: https://www. livestrong. com/article/525051-the-nutrition-of-non-alcoholic-beer/
- Chiva Blanch G, M. E. (2015, jan). Effects of alcohol and polyphenols from beer on atherosclerotic biomarkers in high cardiovascular risk men: a randomized feeding trial. Nutrition, Metabolism and cardiovascular diseases, 36-45.
- John Patrick Adiong, E. K. (2014, Aug). Consuming non-alcoholic beer and other beverages during pregnancy and breastfeeding. College of Family Ohysicians of Canada, 724-725.
- L. Franco, C. R. -L. (2015, April). Effect of non-alcohol been on anxiety: Relationship of 5-HIAA. NEUROCHEMICAL JOURNAL, 149-152.
