Originally published December 27 2005
Medical experts debate the truth of homespun hangover remedies
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Medical officials from prominent U.S. medical schools talk about various hangover remedies, including breakfast concoctions, and attempt to determine whether or not the remedies hold any truth.
Getting rid of the hangover really comes down to understanding how the body reacts to alcohol in the first place.
Alcohol is a diuretic -- that is, it tends to increase urination, and therefore, dries you out, explains alcohol metabolism researcher James Schaefer, PhD, professor at the Union College in Schenectady, N.Y. Drinking plenty of water the morning after helps to compensate for the dehydration.
Impurities are added to alcoholic beverages during the distillation process, and these contribute to the nasty stomachache you get with your hangover.
Drinking lots of water, then, does two things: it rehydrates your body and dilutes the impurities left in your belly.
When Brian Wakabayashi was at the University of California, Irvine (UCI), he always made burnt toast a part of his morning-after breakfast.
Schaefer has this explanation for why that helps: Carbon in the charred part of the toast filters the impurities.
In fact, people who come into hospital emergency rooms with alcohol poisoning get a potent carbon slurry pumped into their stomachs for the same reason.
A new hangover helper called "Chaser: Freedom From Hangovers" also contains vegetable carbon and there are claims it can help prevent a hangover by absorbing the elements in beer, wine, and spirits that cause hangovers.
But emergency room physician Ronald Charles, MD, says there isn't any science to back up the claims that you can target the hangover-causing elements in alcohol and block their absorption.
Charles says alcohol is also rapidly absorbed into the bloodstream and only stays in the stomach for a short time, which means it's unlikely much of it would be absorbed by an antihangover product.
It's not a morning-after remedy -- more like a late-afternoon-before preventive tactic.
Cole Ramsey, also a former UCI student, swears by its hangover-preventing powers and doesn't leave home without some -- in his stomach, that is.
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