In What Order Should You Drink Alcoholic Beverages To Avoid A Hangover? You Won't Like The Answer

In what order should you drink alcoholic beverages to avoid a hangover? You won't like the answer

The sum does not change from a change in the places of the terms, scientists say, removing the bottles from the table. German researchers have found that it doesn't matter if you drink beer first and then wine, or vice versa. You will still have a hangover.

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The sum does not change from a change in the places of the terms, scientists say, removing the bottles from the table. German researchers have found that it doesn't matter if you drink beer first and then wine, or vice versa. You will still have a hangover.

With the goal of helping people cope with hangovers, the German researchers recruited 90 volunteers, aged 19 to 40, who drank beer, wine, or both as part of the experiment. The first group drank 1.2 liters of beer, followed by four large glasses of wine. The second group first consumed four glasses of wine, and then 1.2 liters of beer. The third group drank only beer or only wine. All participants were kept under medical supervision over the following night.

Then the participants in the experiment were given a week to let the alcohol leave the body, after which they returned to drinking alcohol for the sake of science. This time, alcohol intake is performed in the reverse order: those who drank beer first now started with wine (and vice versa), and those who drank only wine now drank beer (and vice versa).

The results of the experiment, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, say there is no significant difference in the severity of a hangover in the order of drinking.

“We found no support for the idea that raising the degree (beer over wine) eases hangovers,” said Jöran Köchling, lead author of the study at Witten / Herdecke University.

Surprisingly, the phenomenon of hangovers is not well understood, although it is believed that its main causes are dehydration, immune system reactions, and metabolic and hormonal disorders. The severity of a hangover depends not only on alcohol, but also on other ingredients. Dyes and flavors are believed to aggravate hangovers, which is why bourbon produces a stronger hangover than vodka at the same alcohol concentration.

Two factors could still predict the severity of hangover symptoms: whether the participants felt drunk during the experiment and whether they felt sick. Those who were most likely to have a severe hangover were those who rated their level of inebriation higher on a scale of 1 to 10, or those who felt nauseous.

“The bottom line is that it’s just drinking too much alcohol that leads to a hangover. The only sure way to predict how bad you will feel in the morning is to gauge how drunk and sick you are. These factors should be taken into account when drinking alcoholic beverages,”said Köchling.

The researchers recognized the limitations of their study. For example, they could not form a control group that drank non-alcoholic beer or wine, since none of the participants in the alcohol study wanted to be in the non-alcoholic group.

And while the researchers haven't found a way to drink without a hangover, they say a hangover isn't always that bad.

“As unpleasant as hangover syndromes are, we must remember that they have at least one important advantage - it is a warning that will help people change their behavior in the future. In other words, it helps us learn from our own mistakes,”said study co-author Dr. Kai Hensel.