The pursuit of avoiding a hangover is as previous as alcohol itself. Historical Romans swore by fried canary and sheep’s lungs, whereas the Irish suggested burying your self in moist sand as much as your neck. However one offender that entails no added price or danger of lavatory lung tends to resurface across the holidays: congeners in alcohol.
What are they? Does consuming drinks low in congeners truly work? Or is that this an previous (and certain hungover) wives’ story? Let’s check out what the science says.
What Are Congeners?
When grapes or grain are fermented, they produce alcohol — together with byproducts often called congeners. These embrace chemical compounds like methanol, acetone, and tannins, which contribute to the colour, odor, and style of an alcoholic beverage, says Gillian Teitz, MS, a biochemist and host of the dependancy science podcast Sober Powered.
What Alcohols Have The Most Congeners?
Gentle-colored alcohols include fewer congeners. Examples embrace:
- Vodka
- Gin
- Rum
- White wine
- Gentle beers
Darkish-colored alcohols include extra congeners. These embrace:
- Bourbon
- Whiskey
- Purple wine
- Darkish beers
What Causes Hangovers?
Right here’s a reality worthy of a spit take: Scientists nonetheless don’t totally perceive what causes a hangover. It appears a bit loopy when you think about the familiarity of hangover signs — nausea, headache, fatigue, anxiousness, shakiness, and occasional prayers for demise.
An early concept — dehydration — is now thought of a separate symptom of an evening of extreme consuming. Though alcohol is a diuretic (substances that improve urine manufacturing), some research discovered that individuals who skilled hangover signs weren’t dehydrated.
The present prevailing rationalization entails alcohol metabolism. Once we eat alcohol (a.ok.a. ethanol), the physique’s first precedence turns into breaking it down and eliminating it from the physique. Initially, the liver turns ethanol right into a substance known as acetaldehyde, which is believed to be 10 to 30 instances extra poisonous than alcohol. Acetaldehyde is then damaged down into innocent acetate and water, which is eradicated by way of urine.
How Do Congeners Have an effect on Hangovers?
The speculation continues: The longer alcohol and acetaldehyde stay within the physique, the extra harm they’ll do, and the more serious your hangover will likely be. Congeners are believed to compete with ethanol for the physique’s processing bandwidth, and this may end up in alcohol hanging round longer whereas congeners are damaged down, says Teitz.
Some research have discovered that high-congener drinks may cause worse hangovers than low-congener drinks.
“It may be concluded that alcoholic drinks that include extra congeners produce extra extreme alcohol hangovers,” wrote authors of a assessment of research within the journal Alcohol and Alcoholism. “Furthermore, a current survey confirmed it takes fewer high-congener drinks to get a hangover, whereas on the similar time the severity of those hangovers is most pronounced.”
It’s all concerning the alcohol
So, to keep away from a hangover, simply follow low-congener drinks? Good luck discovering a physician or scientist who will suggest it. Specialists are fairly unanimous: The largest contributor to a hangover isn’t congeners. It’s alcohol itself.
“In case you drink sufficient alcohol, you’re going to get a hangover,” says Teitz. “Whereas the quantity of congeners current could barely worsen a hangover, a hangover is brought on by the amount of alcohol you’ve consumed.”
“The few experimental research point out that the very best congener beverage (bourbon) leads to extra extreme hangover scores than does the beverage with basically no congeners (vodka),” wrote authors of a assessment of analysis printed in Present Drug Abuse Evaluations. “Though, ethanol results per se had a significantly stronger impact on hangover than did congener content material.”
In spite of everything, it’s primarily alcohol, not congeners, that causes essentially the most bothersome bodily results we affiliate with hangovers: It will possibly irritate your abdomen (resulting in nausea or different GI upset), can affect blood sugar steadiness (making you’re feeling weak or shaky), and may contribute to bodywide irritation and sleep disruption (which may make you’re feeling fatigued, achy, or simply typically awful).
How Do You Keep away from A Hangover?
Nearly everybody who’s tied on one too many has a suggestion on easy methods to keep away from a hangover after overindulging. These can vary from primary (simply drink water!) to pretty elaborate. For instance, High Chef host Padma Lakshmi swears by a pre-bedtime ritual of 1,000 mg of Vitamin C, one liter of water, and an egg-and-cheese sandwich.
However, in accordance with medical science, the official reply is that this: There’s no trickery that may rescue you. “In a number of research, no efficient methodology of hangover prevention was discovered,” stated Daniel Okay. Corridor-Flavin, MD, an dependancy psychiatrist on the Mayo Clinic. “The one positive solution to stop a hangover is to drink moderately or not drink in any respect.”
How the specialists outline moderation: Not more than two alcoholic drinks a day for males and no multiple for ladies.
In keeping with the Cleveland Clinic, one drink is equal to:
- 12 ounces of normal or gentle beer; roughly one can (5% alcohol)
- 8 to 9 ounces of malt liquor or many forms of craft beers; about half a pint glass (7% alcohol).
- 5 ounces of desk wine; about one glass (12% alcohol).
- 1.5 ounces of liquor; roughly one shot (40% alcohol).
“The most effective factor you are able to do to keep away from a hangover is to drink much less alcohol,” says Teitz, “or weigh the professionals and cons and resolve that the hangover is price it.”
