Beer.. A recovery drink?

FOUR HANDS MALE AND FEMALE TOAST WITH MUGS OF BEER

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Growing up and being athletic you hear about and see all kinds of different recovery drinks. Gatorade and Powerade were usually go to recovery drinks in sports or just simply water. Then there are things like pedialyte which is good for rehydrating you. More recently I have heard from many trainers and strength and conditioning coaches that chocolate milk is the best recovery drink. Intrigued to find the best recovery drink, I went and did some research on the internet and I ran across this company in Canada who is trying to market a recovery beer.

This canadian beverage company has managed to create a low alcohol, high protein/nutrient enriched beer. A team of food scientists created this unorthodox recovery drink as an alternative to a traditional beer, at only .5% alcohol by volume, 77 calories and packed with antioxidants and electrolytes, it seems like a pretty good idea. When you workout and exercise your body sweats and you lose electrolytes and fluids, so after your workout you need to put back those things into your body that it lost. A traditional beer contains a small amount of carbohydrates and electrolytes as is, obviously not as much as for say a Gatorade, but altering and adding to the beer can improve the amount of carbs and electrolytes. A study published in May of 2013 shows that by adding sodium and changing the electrolyte content of beer, you can decrease the dehydrating effect that beer has. A study conducted in 2011 in Germany shows low alcohol beers with additional sodium can be very beneficial to those who lose a lot of fluids through lengthened workouts.

All in all, I think beer can be a very beneficial recover drink as long as you take out majority of the alcohol. I don’t know how successful this product would be or if it will ever make it to market. Who knows, beer could be the next recovery drink.

One thought on “Beer.. A recovery drink?

  1. Elsa Breakey

    This is interesting! I’ve always heard the saying “the best way to cure a hangover is to drink more” and I’ve never tested it out. I think its cool that this company is trying to implement beer as a recovery drink with a very low alcohol content. I can’t really picture cracking a can after a workout, but maybe it’ll catch on!

    According to the article attached, more alcohol could cure a hangover, or make you feel much worse. I guess testing it out wouldn’t hurt!

    http://www.medicaldaily.com/hair-dog-theory-does-drinking-more-alcohol-actually-cure-hangover-358144

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