During the Spring Festival, drinking and socializing are inevitable. There are many secret recipes for hangover on the Internet, such as drinking tea, honey water, kelp soup, mung bean soup, etc., which can cure hangover, do these methods really work? According to popular science China and food and nutrition experts, these practices actually have no scientific basis, and the key to hangover is to accelerate alcohol metabolism, and drinking water is the best way.
Hangover remedies don't work much.
An article in Popular Science China pointed out that beverages such as tea and coffee contain caffeine, which is believed to be able to help sober up through refreshing effects, but this is only a temporary way to relieve fatigue after drinking, and cannot fundamentally solve the problem of drunkenness. On the contrary, the diuretic effect of caffeine will speed up the rate at which acetaldehyde enters the kidneys, increasing the burden on the kidneys.
Tea. Beijing News data map.
Zhu Yi, an associate professor at the College of Food Science and Nutritional Engineering at China Agricultural University, pointed out that drinking tea to relieve hangover is only an "illusion" on the surface. The theophylline and caffeine in tea are able to speed up the heartbeat like alcohol, but they actually increase the burden on the heart. There are also studies that show that tea only makes people feel high, but it cannot eliminate the physiological *** caused by alcohol intake, and at most it can only turn the brain from a state of extreme inhibition to a state of excitement.
Regarding the hangover effect of honey water, the popular science China article pointed out that the fructose in honey can indeed promote alcohol metabolism in the body, but the effect of a few glasses of honey water is minimal, and its hangover effect is almost negligible. And for symptoms such as dizziness and nausea after drunkenness, honey water is also difficult to have an immediate effect. As for the hangover effect of mung bean soup and kelp soup, it may mainly come from the water in it, and this effect is not much different from drinking a lot of water.
Drinking plenty of fluids can relieve symptoms of drunkenness.
Traditional hangover recipes don't work, so what can be done to effectively cure hangover after getting drunk? The answer is to drink plenty of water or eat well-watered, easily digestible foods.
Ruan Guangfeng, director of the science and technology department of the Kexin Food and Nutrition Information Exchange Center, said that after drinking, alcohol is first converted into acetaldehyde, then metabolized into acetic acid, and finally excreted through urine. If you drink too much alcohol or your alcohol metabolism is blocked, acetaldehyde can accumulate in your body, causing symptoms of drunkenness such as headaches and dizziness. Therefore, the key to hangover is to accelerate alcohol metabolism and promote its excretion from the body as soon as possible. In general, drinking plenty of water can help speed up alcohol metabolism.
The popular science China article also explains that water itself is a hangover agent, and drinking more water after drinking can promote the excretion of alcohol substances from the body through urine, feces and sweat. Eating water-rich fruits and vegetables, as well as foods such as gruel and noodle soup, have a similar effect, as these foods are easy to digest and provide enough water to help relieve symptoms of drunkenness.
During the Spring Festival, drink alcohol in moderation. Nguyen Quang Phong reminded pregnant women, lactating women, and children not to drink alcohol as much as possible, and chronic patients such as gout, diabetes, and heart disease should also try not to drink alcohol. If you must drink, the daily alcohol intake should not exceed 28 grams for men and 14 grams for women, that is, women can drink up to 360 ml of beer or 150 ml of wine or 75 ml of low-alcohol liquor per day, and men can drink up to 720 ml of beer or 300 ml of wine or 150 ml of low-alcohol liquor per day.
Beijing News reporter Liu Huan.
Edited by Zhu Fenglan.
Proofreading by Yang Xuli.