Kevin Verstreppen

David and his team use a newer innovation called vacuum distillation.

But there is another way to make non-alcoholic beer, and that's to not brew the alcohol in the first place. We're in the lab of Kevin Verstreppen, world expert on yeast, at the University of Leuven and the Flanders Institute for Biotechnology.

Kevin's lab studies yeast for multiple purposes, one of them being to make better yeasts for the beer industry. And so how do you make a non-alcoholic beer?

And is there anything specific coming from the yeast?

We checked. It was the Olympic team. And actually, it was thanks to the doctor for the German Olympic ski team who conducted a study on marathon runners, finding that non-alcoholic beer reduced inflammation and respiratory infections. Now, why would that be? Well, there seems to be one more thing that non-alcoholic beer can offer us.

Claudia Marques studies the effects of food and drink on our gut microbiomes.

So what's in beer that's helping diversify our gut microbiomes?

We probably need more research looking into these polyphenols to really understand the health benefits of non-alcoholic beer. Claudia's study is just the beginning. Modern non-alcoholic versions are a better brew, taste-wise. They also have fewer calories than beer and offer the chance to socialise in a drinking culture without drinking pints of fruit juice or sodas.

They might even have the edge over water, thanks to the polyphenols that feed your gut microbiome.