The German Olympic team is drinking about 1,000 gallons of non-alcoholic beer in Pyeongchang right now—not as a celebration, not to mark victory on snow and ice, but as an essential component of their training. And seeing as how Germany is currently tied in the Winter Olympics gold medal count, all that non-alcoholic beer must be working.
According to the doctor of the German Olympic ski team, Johannes Scherr, non-alcoholic beer helps athletes recover more quickly, which then lets them train even harder. In fact, he conducted his own study in 2009 on runners in the Munich Marathon, and found those who drank non-alcoholic beer in the weeks before and after the race had "significantly less inflammation and fewer upper respiratory infections" than those who didn't, The New York Times reports. Scherr credits their good health to antioxidants and immune-boosting polyphenols in the beer.
And it's not like it's a chore to drink non-alcoholic beer—if you don't mind missing out on the buzz. “It tastes good, and it’s good for the body,” said German alpine skier Linus Strasser. “Alcohol-free wheat beer, for example, is extremely healthy. It’s isotonic. That’s why it’s good for us sports guys.” (Isotonic drinks help athletes recover quickly.)
This performance booster seems almost too good to be true in Pyeongchang, where athletes are strategically loading up on calories and wholesome foods to prep for their events. But in Germany, it's tradition. Germans drink three times as much nonalcoholic beer than energy drinks. Athletes are greeted with huge steins of nonalcoholic beer after competitions held on German soil, and German brewer Krombacher supplied 3,500 liters (about a thousand gallons) of the stuff to Pyeongchang to make sure Team Germany was stocked abroad.
Some German gyms even sell it in vending machines. All we've got here in the States is Michelob Ultra, a beer so watered down that, what the hell, you might as well drink it instead of water. But it might be time to start guzzling good non-alcoholic beer—for your health, of course.
