A nutritionist has claimed that eating one regular meal after a hard night can help reduce the effects of a hangover by up to 50% – and it could be in your kitchen right now.
We’ve all been there – the throbbing headache, disorientation, nausea and upset stomach that follow a night of heavy drinking can often be debilitating. Over time, we’ve heard of various home remedies for hangovers, from pickles and fried eggs to the controversial “hair of the dog.”
But it turns out that the secret to alleviating these pesky symptoms may have been in our fruit bowl all along.
Scientists have discovered that fruit could be the miracle hangover cure we’ve all been looking for, with some plant-based treats potentially reducing the effects of a hangover by up to 50%! This health benefit is thought to come from fructose, a natural sugar found in fruit that can greatly speed up the body’s ability to eliminate alcohol.
Nutritionist Dr Rhonda Patrick discussed this research in a recent podcast, explaining that eating fruit such as grapes, watermelon and bananas before you hit the town can lower the amount of alcohol in your blood, thereby lessening the severity of your hangover the next day.
READ MORE: How to Cure a Bad Hangover – Quick and Fast Remedies From Best Foods to Science-Proven Tricks
Tucking into fruit after a boozy night could be the key to rebounding, as it has been suggested that the natural sugars found in whole fruit can replace salts lost during a heavy session and help rehydrate the body. But before you reach for the juice box, experts warn that this hangover hack only works with whole fruits, not their juiced counterparts.
Juicing releases sugars that are absorbed quickly, which can lead to a rapid rise and subsequent drop in blood sugar.
In contrast, the sugars in whole fruit are absorbed gradually, preventing a roller coaster effect on blood sugar levels. In order to really benefit from the fruit’s anti-hangover properties, Dr. Patrick advises that a significant amount of fruit specifically is needed, a gram of fructose per kilogram of body weight, which can reduce the impact of alcohol by 31%, reports Gloucestershire Live.
For a 79kg guy, that means munching on about five or six apples to get enough fructose to put a dent in the dreaded hangover. Dr. Patrick clarified on the FoundMyFitness podcast: “Am I implying that fructose is a hangover cure? Note that fructose from whole fruit is significantly different from highly refined fructose from fruit juices with fiber and micronutrient benefits.”
In a fascinating study brought to the attention of a nutritionist, a team of scientists delved into how fructose affects the body’s ability to process alcohol. They gathered 45 healthy men between the ages of 25 and 35, all moderate drinkers, and for every gram of alcohol per kilogram of their body weight, they were given an equivalent amount of fructose, but not from whole fruit, the Daily Mail reports.
The results were quite revealing: fructose significantly reduced the amount of time the participants felt drunk by about 30.7%, and also increased the rate at which their bodies eliminated alcohol by about 44.7%.
Dr. Reflecting on the implications of the study, Patrick suggested, “Eating some fruit with your meal before you drink may help reduce its negative effects, and this may also include mixing alcohol with fruit juice, which also contains fructose.”
Dr. However, Patrick cautioned against over-indulgence, pointing out that while fruit can help metabolize alcohol, the combination can lead to higher fluctuations in blood glucose and triglycerides than if eaten alone.