For those of us who have ever gone overboard with booze, we are all too familiar with the unpleasant effects of a hangover. From headaches and disorientation to nausea and an upset stomach, the morning after a rough night is never a pretty sight.
Many hangover home remedies have been suggested over the years, from cucumber juice and fried eggs to the controversial hair of the dog. However, the secret to alleviating these unpleasant symptoms may have been hiding in your kitchen all along.
Scientists suggest that fruit could be the miracle hangover cure we’ve all been looking for, with experts finding that the delicious plant-based snack could reduce the effects of a hangover by up to 50%!
This health benefit is thought to come from the naturally occurring sugar in the fruit, fructose, which has been shown to significantly reduce the rate at which the body can eliminate alcohol.
Nutritionist Dr Rhonda Patrick discussed the research in a recent podcast and explained that eating fruit such as grapes, watermelon and bananas before dinner can reduce the amount of alcohol in the blood and thus ease a hangover the next day.
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In principle, eating fruit the day after a sleepless night could help speed up recovery by replenishing lost salts and rehydrating the body. However, Dr Patrick points out that this only applies to whole fruit, not fruit juices.
Juicing results in the release of easily absorbed sugars into the bloodstream, which can subsequently cause rapid rises and falls in blood sugar levels.
On the other hand, the sugars in whole fruit are absorbed gradually, making you less likely to experience symptoms of blood sugar fluctuations, Gloucestershire Live reports.
In order to take full advantage of the potential benefits of this hangover relief approach, a significant amount of fruit would need to be consumed. According to Dr. Patrick, one gram of fructose for every kilogram of body weight can reduce the effects of alcohol by 31%.
For a 79kg man, this would mean eating around five or six apples!
During an interview on the FoundMyFitness podcast, Dr Patrick clarified: “Am I suggesting that fructose is a hangover cure? No. But this is an interesting mechanism by which food and fruit, in particular, can moderate some of the adverse effects of alcohol.” .”
“Note that whole fruit fructose is significantly different in fiber and micronutrient benefits from highly refined fruit juice fructose.”
In a study brought to the attention of a nutritionist, researchers focusing on metabolic disorders examined how fructose affects the body’s ability to process alcohol in a group of 45 healthy men between the ages of 25 and 35.
Before participating in the study, all volunteers were labeled as light drinkers. For every gram of alcohol per kilogram of their body weight, they received an equivalent amount of fructose, but it did not come from whole fruit.
The results showed that fructose significantly reduced the duration of intoxication by about 30.7% and also increased the rate of elimination of alcohol from the body by about 44.7%.
Dr. Reflecting on the research findings, Patrick said: “Eating some fruit with your meal before you drink may help reduce its negative effects, and this could also include mixing alcohol with fruit juice, which also contains fructose.”
However, she cautioned against rushing to fruit alcoholic drinks, pointing out that combining alcohol with fructose can lead to higher fluctuations in blood glucose and triglycerides than when they are consumed alone.