No matter how effective modern medicine is, enduring a hangover is always the worst. That’s why they say the best measure to stop a hangover is to prevent it from happening in the first place.
No, we’re not saying don’t drink, that would be crazy talk! However, there are certain measures you can take to stop hangover pain from being as horrible as it potentially could be. Drink water, have a full meal beforehand, and eat pears.
Yes, according to the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, which has been studying the benefits pears in conjunction with Horticulture Innovation Australia, pears – specifically, Asian pears – have hangover prevention powers. Lead researcher Professor Manny Oaks has singled out the Korean (Asian) pear as our hangover superfood.
Here’s what happened. A study divided subjects into two groups. While some subjects consumed actual pear juice before getting drunk, others consumed a placebo juice. The pear juice-drinkers were far less hungover than the group who had consumed a placebo drink. Hangover symptoms were categorized in fourteen symptoms. When it came to trouble concentrating, the pear juice-drinkers were doing significantly better than the placebo juice-drinkers. The hangover-squashing effect of pears worked when subjects consumed 220 ml of Korean pear juice, but Oaks also thinks that eating the whole pear would yield a similar effect.
So what about pears makes them magical? Oaks says that pears act as an enzyme that helps quicken the pace of alcohol metabolism, as well as “elimination of inhibition of alcohol absorption.” When it came to blood levels of acetaldehyde, the toxic metabolic associated with hangovers, pear juice consumption was seen as an especially good prevention method.
While these are only preliminary studies, they’re making us hopeful. The only trick is to drink pear juice BEFORE drinking the good stuff. Drinking it afterward won’t deliver any miracle cure, except putting a pleasant taste in your mouth.
H/t News @ CSIRO