German Team Doctor Recommends Olympians Drink A Beer After Competing

The country currently has 10 gold medals, the second-most of any nation.

A German team doctor recommends that his country’s athletes should drink a beer directly after competing in the Winter Olympics.

Hey, wouldn’t have to tell most of us twice.

But there’s a scientific reason behind Team Germany showing up to the Winter Olympics with about 3,500 liters of non-alcoholic beer and 11,000 liters of the regular stuff.

With 156 athletes representing Germany in PyeongChang, that works out to 93 liters of beer per person.

But Johannes Scherr, a doctor for the German ski team, believes that his athletes should drink up early and often. As the New York Times reported on Monday, Scherr finds that a non-alcoholic beer consumed after physical activity is more rejuvenating than water or a sports drink.

Scherr conducted a published study in 2009 that found that athletes who drank a non-alcoholic beer after training or competing experienced “significantly less inflammation” and “fewer upper respiratory infections” than those who consumed a placebo. Beer contains a high concentration of polyphenols, which boost the immune system.

Plus, let’s face it. As the husband of a Canadian curler showed us on Monday, there are few things more satisfying than a cold beer (or two), no matter what the time.

Drinking a beer after a physical activity is not limited to the Germans, of course. If you’re a runner, there’s a good chance you’ve been offered a beer after, say, a 10K or a marathon.

But no one values their sports-related suds quite like the German. Non-alcoholic beer is aggressively marketed as a sports drink in Germany, which is only bested by Iran when it comes to consumption of non-alcoholic beer.

Of course, there has been plenty of reason for Germans to celebrate and head toward the alcoholic stuff once they come off the podiums in Korea. The country had 20 medals (10 gold) heading into Tuesday’s competition, the second-most of any nation.

Prost!

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