Researchers suggest Sprite as new remedy
Most people know what can happen after a night of excessive drinking: the morning after can be accompanied by that familiar “hangover” feeling. Most people will likely know some of the more commonly suggested hangover cures; these include drinking plenty of water or tomato juice or eating a greasy breakfast. There are also traditional cultural cures such as drinking pickle juice, which is common in Poland, or burying the person up to their neck in moist river sand, made popular in Ireland. Recently, however, there was a group of researchers from China who took a scientific approach to finding a hangover cure.
A study, published in the academic journal Food & Function in late September, first examined the chemical causes of a hangover. When an individual consumes alcoholic beverages, their body begins the process of breaking down the ethanol it contains. The first stage of the process turns ethanol into acetaldehyde, which is the chemical component considered to be the cause of hangovers. Therefore, the more alcoholic beverages an individual consumes, the more ethanol their body will need to process, and the longer it will take. The body then needs to process the acetaldehyde into acetate, which is a harmless chemical by-product for the body in terms of the hangover symptoms. The researchers involved in the study sought to disrupt these stages of ethanol processing by accelerating the process.
By using a wide range of common carbonated beverages and herbal teas, these researchers systematically tested the individual effects the drinks had on hangover symptoms. Some of the tested drinks actually had negative outcomes – they hastened the formation of acetaldehyde, but prevented the removal of it. The one solution they did come up with was Sprite. They found that this carbonated drink helped minimize the potential harmful effects of consuming alcoholic beverages. This new finding is definitely worth a try, because after all, it was scientifically tested. It might be exactly what a hungover individual needs to prevent the possible alcohol-withdrawal symptoms commonly experienced the day after drinking too much.