Analysis: The sober-curious movement has seen sales of non-alcoholic drinks rocket, but do these beverages come with health benefits?

By Ana Soriano and John Kenny, Teagasc

Beer is the most widely consumed fermented beverage and beer drinking is a highly social pastime and is often used as a way to unwind. Who hasn't heard of Oktoberfest, beer fests or pub crawls as popular local activities?

As much as beer is still very popular, alcohol is heavily taxed, hard on the wallet and, as anyone who has suffered from a hangover can confirm, is detrimental to your health. Consumers are becoming increasingly aware of the negative effects of alcohol on their lives and they are shifting their preferences towards healthier alternatives creating a growing demand for affordable products with zero alcohol content.

This sober-curious movement has seen sales of non-alcoholic beverages such as non-alcoholic beer rocket. Indeed, the market of non-alcoholic beer has grown considerably in recent years and is expected to exceed $33 billion by 2032 in Europe.

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Beer certainly isn’t regarded as a health drink, but what about non-alcoholic beer? The non-alcoholic fraction of beer is nutritionally rich and high in polyphenols derived from the malt and the hops, which can protect cells from oxidation. Furthermore, as a fermented food, non-alcoholic beer has huge potential for diet improvement since fermentation releases bioactive molecules that can positively impact human health.

Fermented foods and beverages have traditionally been used due to their natural and safe history of usage and they are receiving ever-greater attention due to its numerous health effects and affordability. Fermented foods-rich diets have been shown to reduce disease risk and improve the health status, exerting this effect partly via modulation of the gut microbiome.

The gut microbiome is a system of commensal, symbiotic and pathogenic microorganisms tightly linked to human health. In fact, the microbiome constitutes the last organ under active research, since changes in its composition, functionality and diversity can lead to different physiological and pathological conditions.

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You are what you eat and the gut microbiome is heavily influenced by our diet. Fermented foods contain ingredients that can promote the growth of microorganisms which are naturally present in the digestive tract, and additionally, they can also provide us with new microorganisms with health benefits. In this sense, it is estimated that the contribution of fermented foods with new microbes to the gut microbiome is around 3%.

These potential health benefits make zero alcohol beer an interesting choice as a health drink. In fact, some companies specifically market it as an isotonic post-sports recovery drink, preferable to sugar laden alternatives, or as a mood enhancing drink.

But be warned, marketing is a matter of constant debate since unsubstantiated health claims about products are often made in an effort to increase sales. The reality is that health effects of non-alcoholic beer have barely been explored and represent an important gap of knowledge in terms of public health that needs to be covered due to its increased consumption.

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There are two main ways that production of non-alcoholic beers differs to normal practices. The beer is brewed normally, and the small molecules of alcohol removed through a physical dealcoholisation process involving the use of membranes. Alternatively, the fermentation procedures can be adjusted to reduce the production of alcohol using low-sugar levels, low temperature or unconventional yeasts. The process is not currently streamlined, since dealcoholisers might not be affordable to smaller craft breweries, and fermentation adjustments are often dependant on the specific type of beer and the brewery practices.

Another challenge is to retain flavour and aroma to obtain a tasty beer while getting rid of the alcohol. Although alcohol itself is a potent flavour-inducing compound, the most contributing factor to flavour loss in non-alcoholic beer is the removal of flavour compounds during dealcoholisation or the non-production of these compounds during the adjusted fermentation processes. Either way, the result can be a less attractive beer for the consumer, not as malty and less bitter.

It is worth noting that the shelf-life of non-alcoholic beer is shorter than regular beer. The high alcohol levels in regular beer normally act as a preservative, along with low nutrient content and absence of oxygen/presence of CO2 that result from the fermentation process. These changes make non-alcoholic beer more susceptible to unwanted microbial contamination.

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Can food science, microbiology and data science provide a solution to these challenges, and obtain a healthy, tasty beer with no alcohol? The investigation of new microbes for brewing beer is one route to the answer. Thanks to recent improvements in DNA sequencing and analysis methods, there are now powerful genomics-based tools at our disposal that allow us to predict which microbes to use to obtain a beer with desired outcomes for the consumer in terms of health, flavour, aroma, and shelf-life. The boom in sales of real ales has shown us that not everyone wants to drink the same lager, so there’s plenty of room for innovation.

The increased consumption of non-alcoholic beer represents an important market niche, where research seems key to push the boundaries of innovation and increase consumers’ acceptance while also serving health and sustainability purposes. Those suffering after some over-indulgence may be happy to think about the possibility of a better range of zero-alcohol beers in years to come.

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Dr Ana Soriano is an EU-funded Marie Skłodowska-Curie Award Postdoctoral Fellow and researcher with the Food Biosciences Department at Teagasc and APC Microbiome Ireland Research Ireland Centre at UCC. Dr John Kenny is a researcher with the Food Biosciences Department at Teagasc and APC Microbiome Ireland Research Ireland Centre at UCC.