Morgan Baumann's Blog: Non-Alcoholic Drinks: Is It Fine For Recovering Alcoholics?

One of the more common questions that newly sober people often wonder about is if they would be allowed to consume low-alcohol or even non-alcoholic beers. Apparently, despite the seeming harmlessness factor of non-alcoholic and low-alcoholic beverages, there are a few good reasons why recovering alcoholics need to avoid these types of drinks. Anyway, there are a lot of alternatives to non-alcoholic beer that will further your recovery in the process.

Low alcohol beers contain 0.5% ABV in the U.S.

The figure means that if you drink 9 glasses of non-alcoholic drinks, you are actually drinking one regular bill. It is almost impossible for anyone to become inebriated just by drinking non-alcoholic or low-alcohol beers. That is why it is legally made available to minors.

In places such as the UK, low alcohol beer is term differently. They actually use the term in reference to any drink with lower than 1.2% ABV. Technically, such a drink would make it possible for a very determined person to reach the stages of inebriation. They also classify drinks containing lower than 0.5% AbV as non-alcoholic beer.

A lot of these low alcoholic beers are actually lagers. Although it’s possible that you can find low-alcohol ales in the UK, it is just not that popular though. Other names for non-alcoholic beers include:

NA beer
Low alcohol beer
Small ale
Small beer
Pretend beer–colloquial term
Near beer
No alcohol beer
Nonalcoholic beer

A scientific analysis on how low-alcohol, non-alcohol, alcoholic drinks can affect the brain showed that alcohol can affect the part of the brain that regulates dopamine.

Dopamine controls a person’s feelings of elation or pleasure. The study was able to prove that the consumption as well as the anticipation of alcoholic beverage can cause the release of dopamine in the brain and can trigger one to consume it. Hence, beyond drinking a nonalcoholic drink, there are cases that even just the smell of alcohol could be enough to trigger a relapse.

Another study conducted by a research team tracked the changes of dopamine in 49 males as they drank small amounts of beer. Each individual had different familial backgrounds concerning alcoholism. The study resulted in new information that just little quantities of beer were enough to cause stimulation for a dopamine burst.

Apparently, the urge to consume alcohol became too strong in a lot of these people that the researchers encouraged abstinence as the key to staying sober. If you are currently going through recovery, you should resist the urge to consume or indulge in alcoholic or NA beer and low alcohol beer. This is vital if you want to avoid a relapse.

The decision to drink non-alcoholic drink is a personal one.

Certainly, there are a lot of dangers to drinking even non-alcoholic or low alcohol beers. Thus, it is crucial that you carefully consider all of your reasons before you even reach out for a bottle. There are those in recovery who may enjoy these drinks without negative consequences but it really depends on your motivation. Others suggest that it is not worth the risk especially if you are in the early stages of recovery.