German Olympians drink a lot of (non-alcoholic) beer, and win a lot of gold medals

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This was published 6 years ago

German Olympians drink a lot of (non-alcoholic) beer, and win a lot of gold medals

By Ben Crair and Andrew Keh
Updated

When Simon Schempp, a biathlete on the German Olympic team, was training for the Pyeongchang Olympic Games, he often capped a hard day on the trail with a bottle of non-alcoholic beer. He enjoys the taste of beer like most Germans, who drink more of it per capita than the people of almost any other nation. But he drank the non-alcoholic variety for more than just the flavour.

"It's a really good drink directly after training or after competition," said Schempp, who won a silver medal in the 15-kilometre mass start event Sunday.

Germans drink more non-alcoholic beer than any nation, except Iran.

Germans drink more non-alcoholic beer than any nation, except Iran.Credit: Halfpoint

Schempp's sober assessment is popular in Germany. While most people see non-alcoholic beer as a responsible replacement for regular beer, Germans often drink it in place of sports drinks after exercise. Beer or Gatorade? No contest.

Johannes Scherr, doctor for the German Olympic ski team, said nearly all of his athletes drink non-alcoholic beer during training. And the brewery Krombacher has supplied 3500 litres of non-alcoholic beer to the athletes' village so German athletes can enjoy it during competitions at the Pyeongchang Games, where Germany is tied for the most gold medals.

Germany's Simon Schempp was excited to win a silver medal and also to drink a non-alcoholic beer after the 15-kilometre mass start.

Germany's Simon Schempp was excited to win a silver medal and also to drink a non-alcoholic beer after the 15-kilometre mass start.Credit: Patrick Semansky

German beer companies originally marketed non-alcoholic beer as the "car driver's beer" after it was invented in East Germany in 1973. A decade ago, Dr Scherr, who also teaches sports medicine at the Technical University of Munich, noticed that beer companies were beginning to pitch their non-alcoholic products to health-conscious consumers.

"A lot of companies tried to associate beer, especially non-alcoholic beer, and sports," he said. "But there wasn't any scientific background behind it."

Dr Scherr conducted a double-blind study in which he gave runners in the 2009 Munich Marathon non-alcoholic beer every day for three weeks before and two weeks after the race. These runners suffered significantly less inflammation and fewer upper respiratory infections after the race than runners who had been given a placebo.

"This was pretty surprising to us," said Dr Scherr, who published the results in the peer-reviewed journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise.

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Germans often drink non-alcoholic beer in place of sports drinks after exercise.

Germans often drink non-alcoholic beer in place of sports drinks after exercise.Credit: TOMOHIRO OHSUMI

If non-alcoholic beer helped athletes recover more quickly from gruelling workouts, then it could allow them to train harder. Dr Scherr credits the non-alcoholic beer's salubrious effects to its high concentration of polyphenols, immune-boosting chemicals from the plants with which its brewed.

"After that, we really had the proof: It's really healthy and not only a marketing gag," said Holger Eichele, chief executive of the German Brewers Association. From 2011 to 2016, German consumption of non-alcoholic beer grew 43 per cent even as overall beer consumption declined, according to Euromonitor International. New brewing techniques helped to diversify and improve the flavour, and now there are more than 400 non-alcoholic beers on the market in Germany. Germans drink more non-alcoholic beer than any nation, except Iran.

"It's a really good drink directly after training or after competition," Germany's Simon Schempp said of non-alcoholic beer.

"It's a really good drink directly after training or after competition," Germany's Simon Schempp said of non-alcoholic beer.Credit: Felipe Dana

"It tastes good, and it's good for the body," Linus Strasser, an Alpine skier from Munich, said Sunday after finishing his second run in the men's giant slalom.

"Alcohol-free wheat beer, for example, is extremely healthy. It's isotonic. That's why it's good for us sports guys."

A hard-earned thirst

Many breweries market their non-alcoholic beers explicitly as sports drinks. The Bavarian brewery Erdinger, for instance, calls its non-alcoholic wheat beer "the isotonic thirst quencher for athletes" and advertises it with the motto, "100% Performance. 100% Regeneration." Heineken promotes its non-alcoholic beer Heineken 0.0 with lines like, "There is no limit to what the human body can achieve," and recently struck a deal to sell Heineken 0.0 in the vending machines at McFit Fitness, Germany's largest chain of gyms. At most major German marathons, non-alcoholic beer is available to runners at the finish line. Erdinger handed out 30,000 bottles at the Berlin Marathon last year.

Sales have been helped by the fact that traditional sports beverages, like Gatorade, are not particularly popular in Germany. Non-alcoholic beer has a lower sugar content compared with many sports drinks, and Germans drank three times as much non-alcoholic beer as they did sports drinks in 2016.

Moritz Geisreiter, a German speedskater, said he drank non-alcoholic beer from the grocery store before switching to a specialised sports beverage designed by a nutritionist. "It's a nice solution for someone who doesn't want to pay dozens of euros a week for a nutrition drink," he said last week at the Olympic skating oval in Gangneung, South Korea.

Germany's Moritz Geisreiter catches his breath after the men's 10,000 metres speedskating race at the Winter Olympics. He'll need a beer.

Germany's Moritz Geisreiter catches his breath after the men's 10,000 metres speedskating race at the Winter Olympics. He'll need a beer.Credit: JOHN LOCHER

Dr Scherr doesn't prescribe non-alcoholic beer to the German Olympic skiers. Most of them are Bavarian and drink it on their own. He usually recommends that athletes drink a non-alcoholic beer after exercise, but a 2016 study by Chilean researchers in the peer-reviewed journal Nutrients also found that non-alcoholic beer before a workout helped soccer players stay hydrated compared to regular beer and water.

Dr Scherr also believes it benefits most endurance athletes and may be less helpful in sprint or strength-based competitions, where inflammation is less of a problem.

Not everyone's a fan

Despite its demonstrated benefits, non-alcoholic beer has been slower to catch on with athletes from other countries. When Ethiopian runner Guye Adola finished second at last year's Berlin Marathon, setting the record for the fastest-ever marathon debut, he did not take a sip from the enormous mug of Erdinger non-alcoholic beer that was handed to him when he finished.

"I was scared that it might contain alcohol and I didn't want to add to my fatigue," he said in an email. "In our country, we don't have such stuff at the finish line."

Of course, at the finish line, after months of training, many German athletes crave something with a kick - which is why Krombacher also shipped 11,000 litres of regular beer to South Korea.

"Sometimes an alcoholic beer can also be good," Strasser said with a smile.

The New York Times

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