Hi All,
Question...can you drink non-alcoholic beer (0.0%) with compensated cirrhosis?
I called the brewery that makes this brand and they said it contains less than 0.04%. They said they have tested it against Ginger Beer and Kombucha and those 2 drinks contain more alcohol than this beer does.
My Hepatologist said not to drink any non-alcoholic beer. However, this was months before I learnt the above information.
Your experienced thoughts please. Thank you. Dan
To be honest I really don’t know as I would love to enjoy one as well but o think just the beverage in general with or without alcohol puts extra stress on your liver. From all my research it seems like literally everything even the good stuff puts stress on your liver so if your trying to preserve it I’d say go with the most clean food and beverage you can get. It’s incredibly bland and boring but liver problems don’t seem to allow about 80% of food options especially fun or convenient ones.
Hi Amethyst91. Thank you for your quick reply. So far, I’m not on any special diet. But I do eat as healthy as I can these days. Cheers. Dan
In the UK, if a patient has alcohol related cirrhosis and are going forward to liver transplant then no they arn't allowed. Partly because by drinking alcohol free versions of the 'real thing' they don't prove a desire to pull away from booze and proven abstinence is necessary for transplant listing together with a pledge of life long abstinence after transplant. There is also the potential risk in someone who has had alcohol dependency that these drinks don't quite 'hit the spot' and may draw the person back to the 'real thing'.
The subject can get a little bit heated on here when it comes up but if your doctor has said no then that should be your guide, if you were to go to transplant assessment questions would be asked about your compliance with medical advice and abstinence.
Katie
Hi Katie,Thank you for your detailed reply. I wanted to pose the question to the group to see if it was ok to do so as some regular drinks seem to contain more alcohol.
I agree...don’t do it. Cheers. Dan
Agree with the advice here. I had been alcohol-free for 4 years, there at Christmas had a 0.0% Peroni. Then I wanted the real thing. Thankfully this was a minor blip, but it shows I am still an alcoholic at heart!!!
Hi Bozza70. Fortunately, I don’t have that urge to have the real thing.
However, being misdiagnosed 3 times is what got me to this point. So, I can safely have the 0.04% beer...but we can’t drink that either. 😞
Hello Downunda, the drinking of non-alcohol drinks is often a continuous issue on this group. There is a good reason as to why your Hepatologist has said not to drink any.
Once a person develops cirrhosis, the liver can normally continue to carry out many of the 500 different functions it looks after, however other complication may continue to happen due to us taking certain toxic drugs, or other dangerous chemicals into our bodies. End-state liver disease can then occur, at this point most people should have a scan every 6-months or so, as its common for tumours to start to form on the liver. Although many of these tumours can be dealt with by liver ablation technic, once these tumours begin to develop they'll keep on coming back. A liver transplant is really the most viable option at this stage.
A person who is in need of a liver transplant which is ultimately due to alcohol-abuse needs to be able to convince the liver transplant assessment team, that their drinking issues are truly behind them and have been dealt with. They may even enter into a contract saying that they will live a life of sobriety and be alcohol-free for the rest of their life, before they'd be considered suitable.
If such a person had an alcohol addiction issue, then the taste and small are often strong triggers. If a person is still drawn to the taste, then the assessment team will treat this as a person still having issues, and would not accept a person onto the transplant waiting list as the risk is just too great. Alcohol addiction is very much a mental thing, and if a person is still drawn to the taste then it is deemed that they still have issues.
So, my advice is to not drink at all, even non-alcohol beers, wines, and now gin's. Hopefully you won't need a liver transplant in the future, but just in case this was ever an option further down the road of your liver journey, you really don't want to do anything that will cause you not to be considered suitable for a transplant.
Good luck
Richard.
Hi Richard,Thank you for your insight as well.
Last July, first diagnosed, my Hepatologist said I had mild cirrhosis. Child Pugh was 6 and MELD 10.
I’m not on a special diet and the dietitian said I could live 20+ years just fine as long as I eat what’s healthy for the liver.
I was a heavier drinker for 16 years due to a very abusive marriage. I’ve quit drinking from time to time after the divorce with zero issues / withdrawals.
I like the taste of certain beers and was hoping this non-alcoholic beer would be ok as it contains less than Ginger Beer and Kombucha.
I don’t want to experience the serious health issues as the liver gets worse. I certainly want to keep it that way.
I won’t drink it nor anything else! That’s a promise to this group and myself!!
Thank you all again. Cheers. Dan
I'm not going to argue with any of the comments here- all very sound. If you have cirrhosis then you need to be careful as some of these products contain about 0.5% which is really a no-no. A lot of them are just plain awful so what's the point? Where I differ is that there is a strong and very welcome move to grown up alcohol free alternatives. They're improving all the time as there is a big potential market for them. Surely anything that reduces the likelihood of getting liver disease is a good thing. I don't buy this argument that low alcohol option might tempt you the real thing. Most alcoholics will just do the real thing anyway. Anyway good luck with it
Hi Briccolone. Thank you for your reply! This non-alcoholic beer I’m referring to is less than 0.04%. I called the Brewing company as they advertise it as 0.0%.
I wasn’t an alcoholic, per se, according to my Hepatologist. I was a heavier drinker due to my abusive marriage. So, I don’t need the “drink”. I just like the taste of this particular non-alcoholic beer. But after everyone’s generous time and advise in replying...it’s better to not drink it at all.
On top of that, I have haemochromotosis which my Hematologist never mentioned that a person with this genetic disease shouldn’t ever drink again.
Thank you again. Cheers. Dan
yep that level is probably below vinegar-cheers
Agreed! I was also told that eating certain combinations of food can create alcohol in your system. Interesting. 🤔
and also thanks for the research-these debates are always useful
As others have said I also don’t buy the non alcoholic beers lead you to want the’real thing’ Sometimes it’s just nice to have that beer tasting. If you drink 0.05 abv beer such as peroni libera you need to drink 100 bottles to get the equivalent alcohol from one regular peroni which is just not possible.
I suppose it depends on your situation, I have a recent HE diagnosis and my consultant was quite relaxed about NA beer.
Apparently ripe bananas and bread has more alcohol than these!
Food for thought!
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Alcohol related cirrhosis and drinking 
Alcoholic Cirrhosis after quitting the Alcohol?
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