Beer is a widely consumed alcoholic fermented beverage that is rich in bioactive compounds, antioxidants, and exhibits anti-inflammatory activity. It consists of a complex mixture of carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals, offering unique organoleptic properties (1–4).

Furthermore, beer is a sensorially diverse beverage that can be categorized into various styles based on factors such as ingredients, formulation, fermentation type, manufacturing process, alcohol content, color, flavor, and aging. These factors directly influence the composition of polyphenols present in the beer (5).

The phenolic compounds found in beer primarily originate from the chemical transformations of malt and hops during the brewing process. Malt contributes around 70% of the beverage’s polyphenols, while hops contribute approximately 30% (6). Comparatively, ale beers possess higher total phenolic content (TFC) and antioxidant activity (AA) than lagers. This disparity is due to the higher fermentation temperature required for brewing lagers, resulting in increased extraction of phenolics during the process (7).

Metabolomic analysis of different brands of ale and lager has revealed that the principal metabolites responsible for their distinctive characteristics are the polyphenols derived from the varying qualities and quantities of malt and hops used in their formulations. Consequently, beers with stronger profiles tend to exhibit higher overall content of these metabolites (6).

Athletes consume substantial quantities of beer, not only as a social drink (1) but also as a fluid replacement after practicing sports (2). The potential of beer intake for rehydration has been evaluated before or after exercise and at different stages of dehydration (3, 4, 8, 9). However, the intake of beer during the exercise recovery phase is questionable because of the required alcohol content in the volume for adequate rehydration. Alcohol ingestion can suppress the anabolic response in skeletal muscles and impair recovery and adaptation to training and/or subsequent performance (5).

Recently, we designed an innovative non-alcoholic beer-based functional beverage with excellent yield process of spray-drying ranged from 70.0% to 74.7%, high solubility (>90%), low a_w values ranging from 0.206 to 0.282, good particle size distribution were expressed as d [0.5], ranging from 0.58 to 0.84 μm, antioxidant activity evaluated by FRAP, TEAC, and total phenolic compounds showed high values and presented percentage retentions ranging from 80% to 98% (6). Furthermore, the non-alcoholic beer-based functional beverage showed a slightly more spherical conformation, with little invaginations and roughness. This beer powders developed showed 3.07 ± 0.02% of ash, 3.9 ± 0.01% of moisture, 85.3 ± 0.04 g of carbohydrate, 7.4 ± 0.02 g of protein, lipids were not detected and did not contribute to the energy value, and 370.8 ± 0.06 kcal of energy value. Calcium, sodium, potassium, and magnesium were the minerals identified and quantified in the beer powders, with values of 448 ± 0.11, 2,000 ± 0.05, 10,227 ± 0.03 and 1,880 ± 0.02 mg·kg-1, respectively.

In addition, non-alcoholic beer-based functional beverage received relatively high mean scores for all sensory attributes, varying from 5.6 to 7.1 in the nine point hedonic scale, which corresponded from “I slightly liked” to “I liked” and the overall acceptability for received average scores corresponding to “really liked,” indicating a high product acceptance (7). However, the long-term effects of its consumption are still unknown. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate whether a beverage containing beer microparticles has ergogenic effects (described in this study as running performance improvement) in association with long-term exercise protocols in Wistar rats. Furthermore, the study aims to assess the impact of the consumption of beer microparticles-based beverage on eating behavior.

This study evaluated the ergogenic and satiety effects of pale PABM-based beverages in association with long-term exercise protocols on Wistar rats. Although pale ale craft beer is rich in phenolic compounds (PC), which exhibit antioxidant activity, there is a lack of consensus on the relationship between antioxidant supplementation exercise adaptation (27, 28). Therefore, it is difficult to compare these studies because they used different experimental protocols regarding exercise training intensity and duration, antioxidant supplementation (doses and types of antioxidants), and the molecular parameters analyzed. Gomez-Cabrera et al. (28) found that the endurance time was increased (∼190%) in rats after 6 weeks of training, which was blunted when these animals were supplemented with vitamin C. On the other hand, Higashida et al. (27) found that very large doses of antioxidant vitamins did not prevent the exercise-induced adaptive response. Generally, the evidence tends to show that antioxidant supplementation during training exercise does not result in a beneficial effect (29), however, no scientific study to date has evaluated the antioxidant effect of beer on the physical performance.

Liquid formulations transformation into powders products through spray drying process can provide greater benefits than the products obtained from natural resources. Furthermore, this process has several advantages for the transport of beer, such as volume and mass reduced by removing water and alcohol, stabilization and concentrating nutrients and bioactive compounds. Components that are sensitive to oxidation and heat maintained their stability, similar to the sensory characteristics of color and flavor.

In the present study, PABM presented moisture, proteins, ashes, carbohydrates, solubility, a_w, TPC, FRAP, TEAC, and mineral content, based on Maia et al. (6) who also characterized beer powder. According to Neto et al. (30), PC in beer help in maintaining the endothelial functional integrity by reducing the formation of superoxide anion, thereby preventing the oxidation of low-density lipoproteins and modulating macrophage activity in endothelium. In subsequent studies, a reduction in systolic blood pressure, homocysteine content, and several inflammatory markers were observed after the consumption of non-alcoholic beer (31, 32).

The microstructure of dry particles in spray-drying can be altered by a variety of factors, such as composition and encapsulating matrix properties, the core to wall material ratio or encapsulating matrix absence, as well as drying and storage conditions (33). The presence of invaginations in the microparticles is due to the viscoelastic properties of the wall material and use of high drying rates, thus favoring the unequal shrinkage of the particles in the initial stages of the process (34). The invaginations on the microparticles adversely affected the powder properties. Microparticles with invaginated or roughened surfaces may exhibit a greater release of the encapsulated core, due to the larger surface contact with the external medium (7, 34). Specifically, the solubility and uptake of water by particles may be enhanced due to the higher surface area than for the smooth ones, which might interfere with the core stability during storage (35).

A low a_w value of 0.27 ± 0.01 was observed for microparticles. The inhibition of microbial growth and enzymatic and non-enzymatic degradation occurs within this a_w range (36), suggesting a protection against product deterioration.

The potential use of BM derived from the handcrafted pale ale craft beer is based on the concentration of polyphenols. Bertuzzi et al. (37) showed that small-scale beers had a higher TPC and AA values than the large-scale beers. Usually, craft beers (small scale) are unfiltered and unpasteurized, which are the processes that decrease TPC, but there is also a high prevalence of red and wheat beers among them, which are produced with naturally richer raw materials (38). Regardless of the beer type, more than 40 PC have been identified in beer, including simple phenolic acids, hydroxycinnamoylquinic acids, flavanols, flavonols, flavones, alkylmethoxyphenols, alpha-and iso-alpha-acids, hydroxyphenylacetic acids, and prenylflavonoids (39).

Despite the physiological benefits of beer, its alcoholic content is considered a limiting factor for its use as a functional drink. Alcohol-free and alcohol-reduced beverages have increased technological and economic concerns that influence the costs and benefits of the process. Various physical and biological methods have been proposed and applied for the industrial production of alcohol-free and low-alcohol beer, including fermentation-free brewing, dilution procedures, alcohol removal/dealcoholizing, and restricted alcohol fermentation (40, 41). However, the available methods result in significant changes in the nutritional and polyphenol composition of the final product. Low-or non-alcoholic beers have lower TPC and consequently reduced AA compared to the regular beers (42, 43). Therefore, considering the high demand for food products that are nutritious, functional, attractive, with clean labels, and ready for consumption (44), alternative processes could be useful for developing beer-derived polyphenols and nutrient-rich ingredients for sports drinks.

In general, athletes use dietary supplements to promote recovery from training, obtain health benefits, treat illnesses, compensate for a poor diet, and/or improve performance. Nutritionists need to combine the timing, optimal dose, and intake duration of dietary supplements with sports performance (45). In this study it was observed that 20 mg of PABM was better than 200 mg for up to 4 weeks to improve running performance, as supplementation with 20 mg for 8 weeks became ineffective and with 200 mg attenuated the gain during the whole experimental period. Furthermore, it appears that the absence of supplementation (control) presents a greater benefit in performance, while the different dosages inhibit the adaptation promoted by physical training.

There have been a few studies to date on beer polyphenols and their effects on physical performance; however, the literature can explain the effects of polyphenols associated with exercise training. Polyphenols, individually or as a mixture, can improve energy metabolism, oxidative stress, and cell damage, enhancing post-workout recovery (46). Oh et al. (47) administered Ecklonia cava polyphenol 30 min before aerobic exhaustion testing and found an increase of 2.39 min in the time of exhaustion and 6.5% in the mean VO₂ max compared to the placebo group. Our data showed no difference in exercise performance until exhaustion after a single dose of reconstituted beer extract (RBE); however, the group that consumed 20 mg PABM had an early response in endurance performance, showing a higher gain in the first 4 weeks compared to the control group. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of the potential of beer microparticles-containing beverages to increase performance in aerobic exercise until exhaustion.

A factor that may be related to the lack of response after 8 weeks of exercise training is the attenuation of mitochondrial biogenesis. Long-term ingestion of antioxidant compounds can decrease redox signaling, which is important for PGC1-alpha activation, a key protein in the mitochondrial biogenesis pathway (29). Although there was moderate effect size of PABM in AST and FRAP and large effect size in ALT, there was no effect of PABM consumption on antioxidant capacity and cell damage biomarkers in our experimental design after 8 weeks of treatment. A possible reason for this result could be the low dose used in our study. In most of the studies that involve supplementation with polyphenol mixture extracts, the dose used was approximately 1,000–2000 mg (20–23), whereas 20 and 200 mg were used in our model. However, the effect of PABM consumption on energy metabolism can explain the early response in the time-to-exhaustion performance in the 20 mg PABM group. Allgrove et al. (48) showed the effect of regular dark chocolate consumption (2 weeks) on free fatty acid mobilization without affecting plasma glucose, insulin, glucagon, and cortisol, suggesting a direct effect of chocolate polyphenols on lipid metabolism.

The impact of micronutrients contained in PABM on running performance can be also explained by a high concentration of potassium. The higher dose (200 mg.kg⁻¹) contains ~57% of a rat daily need (49). High-intense exercise can elevate plasma potassium concentration and this elevation can be associated with fatigue due to increase in interstitial potassium, reducing the potential of muscle contraction (50). The protocol used to test running performance increases velocity each 2 min and, in higher velocities, the amount of plasma potassium in PABM200 group could trigger muscular fatigue, reducing performance. Other studies can confirm this mechanism analyzing potassium concentration before and after exercise during chronic PABM consumption.

Another effect of PABM consumption detected in our experiment was a decrease in food intake, with a dose-dependent effect, without a decrease in weight gain. The group that received a higher concentration of RBE exhibited a decreased food consumption. This suggested that PABM consumption could modulate food intake and energy metabolism. These effects were compatible with the phenolic profiles found in the beer extract samples. Chlorogenic, gallic, and ferulic acids, which were also found in our samples and other natural product-derived beverages such as mate (Ilex paraguariensis) and coffee, have already been shown to exert reduction in food behavior (51). Song et al. (52) reported an increase in the expression of cholecystokinin (CCK), a primary satiety-signaling hormone, in Caco-2 cells after treatment with chlorogenic acid. In this study, we observed an increase in CCK and glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1), another satiety hormone, in the same cell line after treatment with ferulic acid. Thus, the hypothesis that the consumption of non-alcoholic beer extract can reduce food intake can be partially explained by the phenolic profile found in our samples.

Another molecule related to this effect is 8-prenylnaringenin, a polyphenol found in beer. This compound showed antidiabetic effects, with enhanced expression of AS160, increased activity of AMPK in the liver and skeletal muscle, and reduced fatty acid synthesis after 20 weeks of treatment in mice (53). Naringenin, a precursor of 8-prenylnaringenin, induces an increase in the expression of the anorexigenic hormone cholecystokinin in vitro (54). The increase in GLUT4 translocation pathway activity and the possible anorexigenic effect of 8-prenylnaringenin and its precursor naringenin can partially explain the reduction in food intake without changes in body weight gain during the experimental period.

A few limitations of this study are: (1) some specific compounds found in beer microparticles that could promote this effect were not identified, which prevented us from confirming whether the effects were caused by a single compound or a synergistic effect of a pool of polyphenols, (2) the biochemical analysis was performed only on the plasma and not on skeletal muscle samples, and (3) the polyphenol profile was determined by targeting the main compounds found in beer, other natural products, and their derivatives. Specific compounds such as 8-prenylnaringenin were not targeted in our experiments.

In summary, our study reveals that prolonged utilization of non-alcoholic PABM-based beverages led to a notable enhancement in exercise performance for up to 4 weeks, yet this effect was mitigated by an extended 8-week regimen, displaying a clear dose-dependent pattern. Intriguingly, the ingestion of beer microparticles corresponded to a reduction in food intake, all while maintaining body weight. To comprehensively elucidate the intricate interplay underlying the augmentation of exercise performance and regulation of food consumption, a deeper exploration into the molecular mechanisms is necessary.

The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/Supplementary material, further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.

The animal study was approved by Ethics Committee for Ethics in Animal Use (CEUA) in Scientific Experimentation of the Health Sciences Center of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. The study was conducted in accordance with the local legislation and institutional requirements.

FC: formal analysis, investigation, writing – original draft, and visualization. LB: conceptualization, methodology, investigation, and writing – review & editing. PM, VS, DG: investigation, writing – review & editing, and visualization. AP: conceptualization, methodology, resources, writing – original draft, supervision, project administration, and funding acquisition. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.