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There's no quick fix for a hangover

AFP, LONGON
Tuesday, Dec 27, 2005, Page 16

The only way to avoid a hangover is to drink in moderation. PHOTO: NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE

Just in case there were any doubts, new research has concluded that the best way to beat a hangover -- at Christmas time or any other time -- is to steer clear of alcohol in the first place.

In a timely paper in the British Medical Journal, published Friday, three specialists in complementary medicine found "no compelling evidence" that conventional or alternative treatments can stave off the dreaded morning-after.

"Until the pathology of alcohol hangover is understood in more detail," wrote Max Pittler, Joris Verster and Edzard Ernst, "an effective intervention is likely to remain elusive."

"The most effective way to avoid the symptoms of alcohol-induced hangover is thus to practise abstinence or moderation."

Hangovers can be a real headache, and not just for revellers who have had a few too many.

In Britain, where binge drinking -- deliberately going out on the town to get smashed -- is an issue, excess drinking is blamed for about US$3.5 billion in lost wages each year.

Scanning the Internet, the researchers found no fewer than 38 "hangover cures," from aspirin to water by way of bananas, cabbage, coffee, fresh air, pizza, milk shakes and Vegemite on toast -- not to mention another stiff drink.

The researchers -- whose findings were based on an exhaustive trawl through published literature on hangovers -- did find signs that dietary supplements such as borago officinalis, or borage, can lead to a "significant reduction of hangover" and its symptoms of headache, laziness and tiredness.

But given the small number of people who took part in tests, and the absence of "unvalidated symptom scores," the results could not be seen as conclusive without further independent study.

What was clear was that, for the little that is known about hangovers, there are a lot of supposed remedies out there.

"The paucity of randomized controlled trials is in stark contrast to the plethora of `hangover cures' marketed on the Internet," the researchers said. "This confirms the unreliability of the Internet in health care matters."

Pittler and Ernst study complementary medicine at the universities of Exeter and Plymouth, in the southwest and south of England, while Verster is at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands.
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