Is coffee an effective hangover cure?

QUESTION:

I don’t have a hangover every day! But yes, I party from time to time. The thing is, I don’t know the best way to get rid of the hangover next morning. There seem to be a lot of old wives’ tales out there. Everything from eating bacon to the ‘hair of the dog’. But someone recently told me coffee was best. Is this true? Is coffee really an effective cure for hangovers?


ANSWER:

Dear Party Lover!

Thanks for the question. As it happens, coffee is effective for curing hangovers. In particular, it is effective when combined with one or two aspirin, or other anti-inflammatory drugs. In other words, knock back the aspirin with a nice cup of coffee.

And you’re right, there are a ton of remedies people swear by – anything from eating a full, greasy breakfast, to drinking a lot of water, and yes, taking a drink...the hair of the dog.

None of these so-called cures have stood up to any kind of scientific scrutiny.

However, recently a scientific study was conducted, albeit on rats.

Michael Oshinsky at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, tested the effect of low doses of ethanol, about the equivalent of a single drink, on rats.

The study suggests that hangovers are caused by one of the chemicals that builds up in your body while drinking - acetate.

The reason caffeine and over-the-counter anti-inflammatory drugs seem to provide relief is because they block some of the effects of acetate.

“If you drink a small amount of alcohol, three or four hours later, drink some coffee,” Oshinsky says. “Or take caffeine in some form, like an Excedrin that has caffeine in it. If you take the caffeine at the same time as you drink, it will be gone when the acetate levels are high.”

So there you have it. Once again coffee comes to the rescue.

That said, I don’t think I would waste any of the better coffees I buy on curing a hangover. I’m sure a low-cost coffee from a local store will do the trick just as well!