Influence of daily beer or ethanol consumption on physical fitness in response to a high-intensity interval training program. The BEER-HIIT study

Abstract

Background

High-intensity interval training (HIIT) is an effective approach to improve physical fitness, but consuming beer, which is a regular practice in many physically active individuals, may interfere with these effects. The purposes of this study were to investigate the effects of a 10-week (2 days/week) HIIT program on cardiorespiratory fitness, muscle strength and power parameters, and also to assess the possible influence on them of a moderate consumption of beer (at least from Monday to Friday) or its alcohol equivalent.

Methods: Young (24 ± 6 years old) healthy adults (n = 73, 35 females) were allocated to five groups. Four groups participated in the HIIT intervention program while the fifth group was a control Non-Training group (n = 15). Participants in the training groups chose whether they preferred receiving alcohol or alcohol-free beverages. Those choosing alcohol were randomized to either beer or ethanol intake: (i) T-Beer group (alcohol beer, 5.4%; n = 13) or (ii) T-Ethanol (sparkling water with vodka, 5.4%; n = 14). Those choosing alcohol-free intake were randomized to (iii) T-Water group (sparkling water, 0.0%; n = 16), or (iv) T-0.0Beer group (alcohol-free beer, 0.0%; n = 15). Men ingested 330 ml of the beverage at lunch and 330 ml at dinner; women ingested 330 ml at dinner. Before and after the intervention, maximal oxygen uptake in absolute and relative terms (VO₂max.), maximal heart rate, total test duration, hand grip strength and four types of vertical jumps were measured.

Results

HIIT induced significant improvements in absolute and relative values of VO₂max, and total test duration (all p < 0.05) in all the training groups; also, clinical improvements were found in hand grip strength. These positive effects were not influenced by the regular intake of beer or alcohol. No changes in the vertical jumps occurred in any of the groups.

Conclusions

A moderate beer or alcohol intake does not mitigate the positive effect of a 10-week HIIT on physical fitness in young healthy adults.

Trial registration

ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT03660579. Registered 20 September 2018. Retrospectively registered.

Keywords:

• Exercise
• Alcohol
• Fitness
• Strength
• VO₂max

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank all the participants that took part of the study for their time and effort. We are grateful to Ms. Ana Yara Postigo-Fuentes for her assistance with the English language. This study is part of Cristina Molina-Hidalgo’s Doctoral Thesis conducted in the Official Doctoral Programme in Psychology of the University of Granada, Spain.

Authors’ contributions

Conceptualization, M.J.C.; formal analysis, C.M.-H., A.D.-l.-O. and M.D.-M.; methodology, A.D.-l.-O.; writing—original draft, C.M.-H..; writing—review & editing, M.D.-M., F.J.A.-G., A.D.-l.-O. and M.J.C. The author(s) read and approved the final manuscript.

Funding

This research was partially funded by an unrestricted grant (29 870 €) of the Centro de Información Cerveza y Salud (CICS), Madrid, Spain. A.D.-I.-O. and F.J.A.-G. are supported by a training grant from the Spanish Ministry of Education (FPU14/04172 and FPU15/03960).

Availability of data and materials

All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article [and its supplementary information files].

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The Ethics Committee on Human Research of the University of Granada (321/CEIH/2017) approved the study design, the study protocols, and the informed consent procedure.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors have no conflicts of interest that are directly relevant to the content of this article. Manuel J. Castillo is a former member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the CICS. The funders had no role in the design of the study, in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data, in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

Supplementary information

Supplementary information accompanies this paper at https://doi.org/10.1186/s12970-020-00356-7.

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