When you drink, your liver makes a bunch of enzymes that break down the alcohol in your bloodstream, so you don’t die. Thanks, liver! So during a big night, your body is busy making a whole lot of enzymes to break down that box of SoGos you drank. Unfortunately, one of these enzymes is also really good at turning paracetamol into a toxin that is seriously bad for your liver. Once that enzyme is finished with the booze, it’ll hang around for a while – and turn any anti-hangover Panadol that you take into poison.
“But hangovers are devil spawn!” I hear you cry. “There’s someone using my brain as a punching bag and my stomach no longer wants to hang out with the rest of my body. How do I make it stop?” Well, science is here to save you. We all know to drink your body weight in water and snooze until noon. This is because drinking makes you super dehydrated and partying into the wee hours is not conducive to a lot of sleep, both things that are guaranteed to make you feel like ass on toast.
But the thing that makes you dash for the toilet is aldehydes. Alcohol metabolism is a two-step process: alcohol --> aldehydes --> acetate. Alcohol makes you feel drunk (duh), acetate is totally harmless, but aldehydes mess you up. B vitamins are needed to turn aldehydes into acetate, so down some Berocca or slap a bit of Vegemite on your toast (hopefully Marmite soon, for those of you with good taste). Eggs are also great at getting rid of aldehydes, and it’s a good idea to get some protein in your system – so a bacon and egg sandwich is a scientifically proven hangover cure!
So instead of taking a Panadol and curling up beside the toilet swearing never to drink again, why not science away your hangover? Have a Berocca in a giant glass of water with a bacon and egg sandwich, and you’ll be ready to rage it up at Monkey in no time. And if you take a painkiller, please let it be ibuprofen (Nurofen). That’s science, bitches.
Science, Bitches! is written by members of the Science Community of Otago (SciCo).