快猫短视频

ALL but the saintliest of us have had them. Hangovers approaching near-death experiences. Raging thirst, thumping headache, wobbly limbs and nausea. Worse, there鈥檚 no magic bullet to make us instantly well: bad news indeed as millennium revellers gear up for the Mother of all Hangovers. Thousands of years after the first 鈥渕orning after the night before鈥�, we can send people to the Moon and create computers of mind-numbing power, yet we are still far away from a science-based, experimentally verified hangover cure. Why?

The simple answer is that in the eyes of most governments, doctors and industries, a hangover cure would trigger a catastrophic upsurge in alcohol abuse, tempting mild drinkers to overindulge. Hangovers are, after all, nature鈥檚 way of saying 鈥渄on鈥檛 do this to yourself鈥�.

So don鈥檛 expect to find the magic bullet nestling anywhere in the scientific literature. The research hasn鈥檛 been done nor is it ever likely to be done. But there is plenty of research on what alcohol does to the body. Armed with this knowledge, many alcohol researchers have speculated about the best hangover remedies (see 鈥淒runk as a skunk鈥�, 快猫短视频, 20/27 December 1997, p 46).

In the interests of easing global pain on 1 January 2000, 快猫短视频 decided to test some of the top tips to emerge from this research. A panel of a dozen or so intrepid volunteers agreed to overindulge on four successive weekends, trying a different 鈥渃ure鈥� each time. On the morning after, they recorded how lousy they felt by scoring a range of symptoms. Because dehydration is the most well-documented consequence of drinking, whichever concoction they tried, the volunteers drank a pint or so of water before going to bed.

First up was water pure and simple. Ethanol is a diuretic so you end up expelling more water than you drink. It acts on the brain鈥檚 pituitary gland and blocks production of the hormone vasopressin, which directs the kidneys to reabsorb water that would otherwise end up in the bladder. Once this hormonal hydrostat is switched off, the usual trickle of urine turns into a flood.

To beat the ensuing drought, the body borrows water from other parts of the body, including the brain, which shrinks temporarily. Though the brain cannot sense pain, researchers think that dehydration shrivels the dura, a membrane covering the brain. As this deforms, it tugs at pain-sensitive filaments connecting it to the skull. Water loss might also account for pains elsewhere in the body.

Alas, our volunteers found that water alone did little good, even for treating plain old headaches. One described it as 鈥渁 waste of space鈥�. Sometimes it eased mouth dryness but overall, water sucked.

Frequent visits to the bathroom mean not only dehydration but also loss of essential ions, many of which play critical roles in the body. Sodium and potassium ions, for example, are key to the way nerves and muscles work. Subtle chemical imbalances caused by depletion of ions could explain a cluster of symptoms such as headaches, nausea and fatigue.

Equally insidiously, alcohol depletes our reserves of sugar, leading to hypoglycaemia. It does this by targeting the body鈥檚 store of energy-rich glycogen in the liver, breaking it down into glucose, which promptly becomes yet another constituent of urine. Hapless drinkers will recognise the weak and wobbly effect they鈥檙e left with next day.

All this has lead some alcohol experts to suggest that a 鈥渟ports drink鈥� before bedtime might offset these symptoms. Sports drinks are fortified with hefty doses of vital ions and sugar. A can of this elixir became remedy number two. Although a couple of volunteers felt great next morning, the sports drink had only a marginal edge over water alone. Some volunteers felt bloated by the gas in the drink-hardly appealing on top of a bellyful of beer or wine.

So, onto N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC), an amino acid supplement sold in health food stores. This proved to be a winner. 鈥淔antastic,鈥� said one volunteer. 鈥淢y head didn鈥檛 feel fuzzy at all,鈥� said another.

NAC is thought to work by boosting the body鈥檚 ability to mop up destructive chemicals called free radicals which build up in the liver as enzymes break down ethanol. Free radicals are usually seen off by glutathione, but after heavy drinking reserves of this enzyme can run low. NAC helps because it is rich in cysteine, a sulphur-rich amino acid that forms the core of glutathione. Fuelled by supplies of cysteine, glutathione remains plentiful and detoxification goes on for longer. 鈥淣AC is like a `pro-drug鈥� that鈥檚 converted into glutathione,鈥� says Carl Waltenbaugh, an alcohol researcher from Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago.

NAC also gives a clue to the success of some age-old hangover cures, such as prairie oysters, omelettes and the English fried breakfast. They all contain eggs-which are also rich in cysteine.

So to the final remedy, that old faithful the 鈥渉air of the dog鈥�, a tot of alcohol first thing in the morning. Wayne Jones of the National Laboratory of Forensic Toxicology in Link枚ping, Sweden, found a rationale for this remedy. He showed that some sinister hangovers kick in long after ethanol has been flushed out of the body. The covert culprit, he found, is methanol, the simpler cousin of ethanol which contaminates drinks including cheap red wine, fruit brandy and whisky. The liver cleans house in a strict order, always starting with ethanol. When it gets to methanol, there鈥檚 a nasty sting in the tail. One of its break-down products is formic acid, which Jones believes is the purveyor of severe hangover symptoms.

But drink some more alcohol at this point and the liver switches back to breaking down the ethanol, so the build-up of formic acid stops. Relief is temporary, however, because methanol breakdown resumes later.

The volunteers put theory into practice with a Bloody Mary-vodka and tomato juice. And, sure enough, it worked best for those who had consumed spirits or red wine. It has to be said, however, that some volunteers simply couldn鈥檛 face a drink in the morning.

Overall, nothing worked 100 per cent of the time, highlighting just how complex hangovers are. 鈥淗angovers are multifactorial,鈥� says Thomas Gilg, an alcohol researcher at the University of Munich鈥檚 department of forensic chemistry. 鈥淚f you smoke, or haven鈥檛 had enough sleep, that can affect the hangover, too.鈥�

So, we will have to wait for that elusive magic bullet. At least for this millennium, most sore heads will have to soothed with traditional remedies-plenty of water before bed, something sugary, plus cysteine-rich foods. To take the edge off headaches, pop an aspirin or ibuprofen before bed. But Waltenbaugh warns against taking paracetamol, known in the US as acetominophen, which according to the US Food and Drug Administration amplifies alcohol鈥檚 damaging effect on the liver.

The more adventurous could probably do worse than consider a combination of all the cures tested here-water, sports drinks, NAC and, for real emergencies, a vodka-based pick-me-up. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a bit of folk medicine, but it would probably do you no harm,鈥� says Waltenbaugh. But the best cure, of course, is not to drink at all. Happy millennium!