午夜福利1000集合

IT IS Thursday lunchtime, and I am already on my third beer. I have also got a G&T under my belt and there is ros茅 in the fridge. Once I have glugged some of that, I may treat myself to a negroni. After that, I had better stop, because my cat has an appointment at the vet and I need to drive him there.

Don鈥檛 worry, we will be perfectly safe. If the police stop me and ask 鈥渉ave you been drinking, sir?鈥�, I will tell them the truth: I haven鈥檛. Unless you count the tenth of a unit of alcohol in one of the beers.

All the drinks in my session were zero or low alcohol, a rapidly growing sector known in the business as 鈥渘o and low鈥� or just 鈥渘olo鈥�. Once something to be endured rather than enjoyed, they are undergoing a revolution in quality and a surge in popularity as people sober up to the impacts of alcohol consumption on their health and waistlines.

Before, I had never seen the point of a pint with no punch. Now, I am attempting a dryish January, propped up by my new drinking buddies no and lo. But I have questions. Can low and zero-alcohol drinks really help me cut down, or will they ultimately reinforce my drinking habits? Are they healthier than the real thing? And can they ever taste as good?

There is no doubt that alcohol is a harmful drug and that many people would do themselves the power of good by drinking less of it. Alcohol is a . It also , high blood pressure, stroke, mental health conditions and accidents. Diseases and injuries caused by drinking it .

One of the World 午夜福利1000集合 Organization鈥檚 recommendations for tackling this public health challenge is for drinks companies to reduce the amount of alcohol in their beverages. Or, perhaps even better, to remove it altogether.

That is now happening in a big way. In the past few years, the quality and variety of zero and low-alcohol beer, wine, cider and spirits has boomed. 鈥淲hen I first gave up booze, the choice was limited to pretty crappy beer and even-worse wine,鈥� says Amy*, a friend of mine who quit drinking eight years ago (*not her real name). 鈥淥ver the years, things have improved dramatically.鈥�

鈥淭here鈥檚 been an explosion in the quality in the last five years,鈥� says Tom Hallett, who runs the . 鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot out there that compares nicely to some of the better full-strength beers.鈥�

My haul was a just a small sample of what is now on offer. The charity Alcohol Change UK taste-tests a range of low and zero-alcohol drinks. Its website features , many of them low and no-alcohol versions of household names. 鈥淲hen big brands start launching alcohol-free versions of old favourites, you kind of know that sober drinking is no flash in the pan,鈥� says the website.

Whatever your poison, there is probably now a zero-alcohol version of it. The , for example, is already worth $9.5 billion globally and is predicted to grow 7.5 per cent a year until 2026.

In principle, this is good news for our health. 鈥淭he theoretical evidence would strongly suggest that if people do drink low-alcohol beer that replaces other beer, then that would lead to health gains,鈥� says Peter Anderson, a specialist in alcohol and health at Maastricht University in the Netherlands.

Even when there is a tiny amount of alcohol in a drink, it shouldn鈥檛 be a problem, says Duane Mellor at Aston University in Birmingham, UK. 鈥淎ll alcohol is harmful, but on the balance of evidence, the low level in 0.5 per cent beer is unlikely to be enough to be problematic, unless you drink huge amounts.鈥�

The empirical evidence 鈥� of which there isn鈥檛 very much, and which is mostly from the UK and mostly about beer 鈥� does suggest that the majority of people who buy nolo are drinking less full-strength beer. 鈥淔or most people, it鈥檚 a switch,鈥� says Anderson. But he warns that there is a big hole in the data. 鈥淲hat we have is household purchases, so it doesn鈥檛 include what people drink in the pub.鈥�

鈥淚f low-alcohol beer is done right, there could be something in it beyond the benefits of less alcohol鈥�

Not everyone uses nolo as a substitute. . So from the little data available, it seems that, for many people, a nolo drink hits the spot, but for some, it has little impact on their overall alcohol consumption.

午夜福利1000集合y alternative?

Nolo drinks are certainly less calorific than their alcoholic counterparts. Beer is notoriously fattening: a 330 millilitre bottle of 5 per cent alcohol-by-volume (ABV) lager packs about 140 calories, roughly the same as 330 ml of Coca-Cola Original. The beer calories are mostly in the form of ethanol, an energy-rich molecule that our bodies feed into the carbohydrate metabolism pathway and burn as fuel or turn to fat. The same amount of zero-alcohol lager contains about half as many calories.

If your motivation is shrinking your waistline rather than not harming your body, bear in mind that nolo drinks still contain a lot of 鈥渆mpty calories鈥� 鈥� easily consumed energy that doesn鈥檛 contribute to feelings of satiety.

Still, they may have other virtues. Some nolo beers explicitly position themselves as health and sports drinks, for instance. One of my lunchtime tipples, the toothsome Erdinger Alkoholfrei, is not only about half as calorific as the 5.3 per cent ABV version, but it also claimed to be isotonic 鈥� meaning that it matches the concentration of dissolved salts in body fluids 鈥� and a source of vitamins B9 and B12 and antioxidant polyphenols.

The isotonic claim is of little real value: sports scientists generally agree that such drinks are only effective during and after extended periods of exercise. But there may be something in the other claims. According to Mellor, beer contains a number of potentially beneficial nutrients, including antioxidants and vitamins, and brewer鈥檚 yeast is one of the only non-animal sources of vitamin B12. In normal beer, their health benefits are swamped by the downsides of alcohol and empty calories, but 鈥渋f low-alcohol beer is done right, there could be something in it beyond the benefits of less alcohol鈥�, says Mellor. 鈥�Hops are full of interesting compounds and by malting down barley and other grains you get other interesting compounds as well.鈥� As with much in this area, however, more research is needed.

Anderson cautions against seeing nolo drinks as a healthy option. 鈥淚 just say they are less risky: it means you鈥檙e drinking less alcohol and therefore there is less risk for your health. They do have calories in, they do have sugar, it鈥檚 not the same as just drinking water.鈥�

Concerns have also been raised that nolo drinks could act as a gateway to alcohol, much as . Another fear is that it could tip recovering alcoholics off the wagon. When Amy gave up alcohol, she says 鈥渢he strong advice from those in the know was that recovering alcoholics should not drink anything that pretended to be an alcoholic drink鈥�. However, neither fear appears to be being realised at this point, says Anderson.

A bigger worry is that nolo drinks will appeal to underage drinkers and lure them onto the sauce. 鈥淭hat is a concern,鈥� says Anderson. But for now we just don鈥檛 know.

There are many other gaps in our knowledge. 鈥淚f you look at all the published evidence on low and no alcohol, it鈥檚 tiny,鈥� says Anderson. The biggest unknown is how to encourage more people to switch to them, because, right now, the level of consumption is still far too small to have a discernible effect on public health. According to the Social Market Foundation, the UK鈥檚 annual booze bill comes in at about 拢45 billion, and just 0.25 per cent (拢110 million) of that goes on nolo products. Even with strong growth, its market share will remain modest, the research concludes. 鈥淭o make any significant public health impact overall, it needs to go way up much higher than it is at the moment,鈥� says Anderson.

The most effective way to achieve that is a societal shift. 鈥淚 think what you need is a social norm change鈥� to make it more socially acceptable for drinkers to have alcohol-free beer,鈥� says Anderson. Bringing about such a shift is easier said than done, especially when nolo beer isn鈥檛 widely available in the form that many people drink beer: in a big glass in a bar straight from the tap. 鈥淔or some heavy-beer-drinking men, I think there is a social stigma that they would look wimpish if they picked up the alcohol-free,鈥� says Anderson. 鈥淚f you could keep it on draft it would be brilliant.鈥�

鈥淣olo drinks do have calories and sugar. It is not the same as just drinking water鈥�

There may be lessons to be learned from places where nolo drinks have taken off, including Germany, Poland and Spain, which are all in the global top 10 of beer-swilling countries on a per capita basis. The Social Market Foundation says that about 14 per cent of all beers consumed in Spain are now alcohol-free. But appearances can be deceptive and local circumstances matter. Spain鈥檚 success has been attributed to a preference for ice-cold lager, which nolo beers mimic well but which may not translate to colder climates. In Poland, meanwhile, 5 per cent of the beer market is nolo, and sales grew by 60 per cent in 2019. But this isn鈥檛 actually an indicator of health-conscious switching, because nolo beers are replacing sales of carbonated soft drinks, rather than full-strength beer.

Image problem

We may have more to learn from the US. The country is the second-biggest market for nolo after Germany and demand is forecast to grow about 10 per cent a year until 2024 despite some strong cultural barriers.

鈥淟ow-alcohol beer in the US suffers from an image problem,鈥� says Colleen Myles at Texas State University. This is, in part, a hangover from prohibition when 鈥渘ear beer鈥� (less than 0.5 per cent ABV) was legal but horrible. It was mostly made by incomplete fermentation (see 鈥�Getting to zero鈥�), which, unsurprisingly, tends to generate beer that tastes more like raw malt and hops. One prohibition-era critic described near beer as a 鈥渨ishy-washy, thin, ill-tasting, discouraging sort of slop鈥�.

But US cultural resistance is weakening as the beers get more interesting and consumers embrace healthier and less-fattening lifestyles. Avoidance of drink-driving is also a factor helping the nolo market in the US, says Myles.

Ultimately, says Anderson, nolo beers might be just a drop in the barrel of what is needed to reduce the harms of alcohol. A more effective intervention might be to persuade drinks companies to marginally reduce the amount of alcohol in their standard drinks, in much the same way that the food industry has gradually dialled down added salt and sugar.

If you reduce alcohol levels in beer by about a tenth, from say 5 per cent to 4.5 per cent, most drinkers won鈥檛 notice, he says. 鈥淎nd what the evidence shows is that people don鈥檛 compensate, they don鈥檛 drink more pints, so obviously they鈥檙e going to drink less alcohol. That鈥檚 where you get the real benefit.鈥�

鈥淎bout 14 per cent of all beers consumed in Spain are now alcohol-free鈥�

I would happily switch from 5 per cent to 4.5 per cent, but I am also captivated by the possibilities of nolo drinks. According to Hallett, a mistake that newcomers make is to expect the beers to be identical to their alcohol-soaked favourites, when in fact they are a different experience. 鈥淔or me, it鈥檚 a comparison against other non-alcoholic drinks that I could drink but are not that exciting,鈥� he says.

Removing alcohol affects the taste and mouthfeel of a drink, but perhaps less than you might imagine. Last year, researchers at the University of Valladolid in Spain assembled a panel of professional wine and beer tasters to , body, sweetness, bitterness, astringency, flavour persistence, odour and taste. The only significant differences they reported were in sweetness and bitterness, with nolo products consistently sweeter and less bitter.

On the other hand, some regular beers rely on alcohol to mask a multitude of sins in flavour and aroma. Nolo beers have nowhere to hide, and so open up a new sensory world. I think we can all raise a glass to that.

Getting to zero

When it comes to creating low or zero-alcohol beverages, there are two basic options: biology and physics. Both have their pros and cons.

The biological methods involve making sure the sugars in the mashed grains (wort) or grape or apple juice (must) don鈥檛 ferment completely. There are various ways to do this: ferment at cold temperatures, stop fermentation early, or use yeasts that are bad at it. Biological methods were widely used to make 鈥渘ear beer鈥� in the prohibition-era US. But incomplete fermentation usually produces beers that taste more like wort than beer and the biological approach has fallen into the gutter.

The physical option entails allowing a normal fermentation process to run its course and then removing the alcohol at the end. De-alcoholisation is how the vast majority of low and zero-alcohol beverages are made today, though there is a lot of trade secrecy. Again, there are various options, some better than others.

The simplest method is to drive off the alcohol with heat, but this also strips away aroma, flavour and fizz and can intensify off-flavours. A gentler method is extraction, during which the drink is mixed with a solvent that has a higher affinity for ethanol 鈥� usually liquid carbon dioxide 鈥� then separated out again minus most of its kick. This can be done at room temperature, so avoids spoiling the beer, but is complicated and expensive.

The state of the art is membrane separation, in which semi-permeable membranes are used to filter ethanol and other unwanted compounds out of the drink. Various techniques are available, but according to Grace Ghesti, a chemist at the University of Bras铆lia in Brazil, the best results are obtained with nanofiltration, which uses highly selective ceramic or polymer membranes.

Unfortunately, according to Barbara Stachowiak at Pozna艅 University of Life Sciences in Poland, regardless of the de-alcoholisation technique used, it is associated with a loss of taste and body.

This is unlikely to be the last word on de-alcoholisation, however. Advances in nanomaterials and membranes look likely to offer drastic improvements, says Ghesti, as does a technique called pervaporation, which combines the best of nanofiltration and old-school heat treatment. There is also an experimental method called adsorption extraction, where the beer is forced to percolate through a column lined with minerals called zeolites that selectively grab the ethanol along with other undesirable molecules.

Combinations of techniques have a lot to offer, says Ghesti. And according to Tom Hallett, who runs the Steady Drinker website, brewers are also introducing new yeast varieties to add interesting flavours. Physics plus biology looks like a potent cocktail.

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