This article is from "Nankai Sun Pharmacist", which is used for medical science popularization for reference. When we drink alcohol, a large amount of alcohol enters the gastrointestinal tract through the esophagus, is absorbed by the stomach and small intestine, and then enters the bloodstream, and quickly reaches all tissues and organs of the body through blood circulation, of which more than 90% of the alcohol is decomposed and metabolized in the liver, and less than 10% The alcohol is excreted through the respiratory tract and urine, and the catabolism of alcohol into the liver is mainly divided into two steps, the first step is to decompose into acetaldehyde under the action of ethanol dehydrogenase, which can cause vasodilation, nerve excitement, blushing and heartbeat, and can damage human DNA, which is a class of carcinogens;In the second step, acetaldehyde is decomposed into acetic acid under the action of acetaldehyde dehydrogenase 2, part of which is directly excreted with urine, and the remaining acetic acid is further decomposed into water and carbon dioxide and excreted from the body.
Pharmacist Sun has heard of many ways to relieve hangover, such as drinking honey water, carbonated drinks, taking aspirin, Hangover Chinese herbal medicine, etc., these methods have no reliable basis, not only can not relieve hangover, but also may aggravate drunkenness, damage to the liver and kidneys and other vital organs, according to the metabolic characteristics of alcohol, scientific hangover methods can be achieved through two ways, first, delay the absorption of alcohol in the gastrointestinal tract, reduce the concentration of alcohol in the blood, second, increase the number of alcohol dehydrogenase and aldehyde dehydrogenase or improve the activity, accelerate alcohol metabolism, specific methods include:
1.Eating some staple foods before drinking can slow down the rate of drinking, delay the absorption of alcohol, and drink some water at any time during the drinking process, which can promote the excretion of alcohol from the urine, especially tea, tea contains caffeine, which has a diuretic effect and can accelerate the excretion of alcohol.
2.After glucose infusion, blood sugar rises, blood volume increases, which can accelerate the excretion of alcohol in the urine through the kidneys, in addition, after drinking, the liver needs a lot of energy to catabolize alcohol, and glucose infusion can promote the catabolism of alcohol by the liver.
3.The amounts of alcohol dehydrogenase and aldehyde dehydrogenase are genetically determined, cannot be changed, and are difficult to be supplemented exogenously. Metadoxine is a prescription drug that enhances aldehyde dehydrogenase activity, promotes alcohol metabolism, and helps promote the rapid excretion of alcohol in the urine.
4.The most unreliable method is a variety of hangover drugs with unknown ingredients, in fact, most of them contain diuretic, analgesic or neurostimulant drug ingredients, so as to relieve symptoms such as nausea and headache after drinking, so that drunk people feel comfortable and sober, these drugs can not really relieve hangover, but also increase the burden on the liver, affecting the liver's catabolism of alcohol.
In short, drinking alcohol is harmful to health, can increase the risk of alcoholic liver, pancreatitis, cardiomyopathy, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, obesity and cancer, all kinds of harm but no benefit, there is no real reliable hangover cure in the world, drinking alcohol does not hurt the body is just an ideal, the best "hangover medicine" is to stop in moderation, slightly drunk.