February 1, 2011

Beer and Your Body: The Alcohol Hangover

"I feel sorry for people who don't drink. When they wake up in the morning, that's as good as they're going to feel all day." ~Frank Sinatra

The purpose of a hangover is to drive a railroad spike into your brain so that you don't wake up thinking everything you did last night was OK.


The best cure for a hangover is to avoid getting one. The best way to avoid a hangover is to drink the first, sip the second slowly, then skip the third.

In your body, alcohol is broken down by a two-step process: alcohol is degraded to acetaldehyde, then acetaldehyde is degraded into acetate. Acetaldehyde is toxic and can react with proteins to form dangerous molecules known as adducts. It's these adducts that totally make your morning miserable.

DO NOT TAKE NSAID PAIN KILLERS (e.g. - aspirin, ibuprofen, naproxen) BEFORE, DURING, OR AFTER THE CONSUMPTION OF ALCOHOL. If you do, you create an adduct that literally kills your liver cells upon contact, which can ultimately lead to cirrhosis.

Hangovers are the result of a plethora of things, including:
  • dehydration
  • electrolyte imbalance
  • low blood sugar
  • GI tract disturbance
  • disrupted sleep patterns
  • alcohol withdrawal
  • alcohol metabolism
  • personality type
Here is a wonderful article on hangovers.

While in graduate school at Purdue, I had not only experienced several hangovers, I also had the privilege of taking classes from Dr. Henry Weiner (1937-2010), who helped determine the structure of alcohol dehydrogenase, which is an enzyme responsible for that conversion of alcohol into acetaldehyde. Of all the classes I've barely passed in school, his were surely the most boring. He was a beautifully brilliant man, and conducted studies with awesome titles such as "Interaction of a spin-labeled analog of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide with alcohol dehydrogenase".

The other major alcohol-metabolizing enzyme is cytochrome P450 2E1, which also produces acetaldehyde, but creates other molecules called oxygen radicals, including hydroxyethyl radical (HER), which can totally wreak havoc on a cell. Oxygen radicals interact with lipids in a process known as lipid peroxidation, which makes more dangerous compounds including malondialdehyde (MDA) and 4-hydroxy-2-nonenal (HNE).

The image below depicts potentially toxic products resulting from alcohol metabolism.















One trick to help avoid a hangover is to have a drink in the early afternoon before you go out on your binge. The introduction of a small quantity of alcohol into your blood stream triggers the production of the enzymes that breakdown and remove alcohol from your system, so when you're ready to start partying it up like Diddy, your metabolism has a head start. Also, eat something.

I also recommend starting the night fully hydrated, so drink plenty of water during the day. Drinking water between your alcohol drinks also helps because it forces you to slow down your consumption rate - but you still end up dehydrated if you are over-served.

8 comments:

  1. I believe your statement about NSAIDs is incorrect. It's acetaminophen (Tylenol) that destroys your liver when combined with alcohol.

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  2. That is correct. Tylenol is the one you need to watch out for. Vitamin C also does a good job to help quench the acetaldehyde in your system

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  3. Fascinating! Now, don't you want to dig out that study on Interaction of a spin-labeled analog of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide with alcohol dehydrogenase, because I know that I can't be the only one who wants to read that...

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  4. Dear readers, I apologize. NSAIDS and alcohol make your stomach bleed. It is acetaminophen that turns your liver into stone.

    So,


    DO NOT TAKE ACETAMINOPHEN or NSAID PAIN KILLERS (e.g. - aspirin, ibuprofen, naproxen) BEFORE, DURING, OR AFTER THE CONSUMPTION OF ALCOHOL. If you do, you create adducts that literally slices your stomach and/or kills your liver cells upon contact, which can ultimately lead to cirrhosis among other things.

    Again, my apologies.

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  5. There's a bad joke somewhere in here with all this science terminology. Like..."She's not the reason I drink but I blame HER for contributing to my hangover." *cough* *is this thing on?*

    -GB

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  6. Can you explain scientifically why fried chicken helps eliminate my hangovers?

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  7. Tom, this may be all BS, but I would imagine that there are several things about fried chicken that helps alleviate a hangover:
    1. It is full of fats and oils, so you can replenish the lipids that were damaged by lipid peroxidation from hydroxyethyl radicals as well as tie up any oxygen radicals still floating around in your system.
    2. By eating, you are restoring blood sugar levels as well as providing some amino acids and proteins that can also be scavenged for cellular repairs.
    3. Metabolizing anything produces very small quantities of water, which are normally utilized in further metabolism. This metabolic water can help enzymes function.
    4. The effects of eating fried chicken are psychosomatic: you like eating fried chicken and it so it makes you feel good when you do so because of endorphins exciting certain receptors in your brain relating to pleasure - similar to a "runner's high".

    Can anybody validate or contest these statements? These are just my guesses.

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  8. I would not be able to validate but I can certainly agree. My staple is footlongs from subway.

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