Science may not have invented a perpetual motion machine yet, but Japanese beer maker Kirin may just have accomplished the next best thing: a beer which actually reduces your beer belly.

It's called Kirin Karada Free （キリン カラダFree）, and it just went on sale in Japan on October 15th, 2019:

Sounds too good to be true? Of course, there's a catch. The beer (or, as Kirin puts it, "beer-taste beverage") doesn't have any alcohol, which is responsible for much of the calorie content of normal beer.

It also contains "bitter acid" derived from fermented beer hop extract, which, in spite of its name, doesn't actually impart any noticeable bitterness or acidity to the beer but has the remarkable effect of reducing abdominal fat. Through ten years of research and development, Kirin scientists finally succeeded in mass-producing it.

To test the slimming effect of Kirin Karada Free, they conducted a test in which 200 men and women with BMIs between 25 and 30 drank one can a day for 12 weeks or a placebo. Those who drank Kirin Karada Free achieved a reduction in their total abdominal fat between 7-8 square centimeters greater than those who didn't.

And not only is it free of alcohol, it has hardly any calories (5 per 100 ml), and scarcely any sugar (under 0.5 grams) or purine bodies (under 0.5 milligrams) either.

What it hasn't removed is a satisfying beer taste. We had a sample and were pleasantly surprised. Of course, it's not the same as an alcoholic brew, but it's one of the best-tasting non-alcoholic beers we've tried. It has the unmistakable aroma of beer and a refreshing taste which goes down smoothly!

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For more information on Kirin Karada Free, visit their website here.