After a workout, feeling hot, some people want to drink some beer, thinking it can cool the body down and replenish sugar and water. Is this really the case?
It seems that a cool beer, especially a chilled one, does have a refreshing sensation when it first goes down. However, after finishing a bottle or a can, it can still leave you feeling with a dry throat and mouth, and an overall feeling of heat. This is because beer contains alcohol, and even though the alcohol content is low, the amount that enters the body can become considerable. After exercising, the body sweats a lot, has high energy expenditure, and is prone to fatigue. If you keep drinking beer, the sensation of heat caused by the alcohol will persist, failing to achieve the goal of cooling the body down.
A 360ml bottle of beer can provide 16 grams of sugar, which is about 5.6 grams less than a bottle of the same size sports drink with 6% sugar content. More importantly, the main source of energy in beer is alcohol, not sugar. Although it is absorbed quickly, the energy from alcohol is metabolized in the liver, not in the muscles. Therefore, beer cannot replenish the energy consumed by muscle work. On the other hand, the alcohol in beer stimulates the kidneys to produce urine, accelerating water loss and worsening dehydration. Studies have shown that within 4 hours of drinking beer, the body can lose up to 3% of its body weight due to water loss. If you drink beer immediately after a workout, especially after an intense one, it can worsen post-exercise dehydration, which is extremely detrimental to your health.