Physical Wellness

Sprite Unveiled As The Best Hangover Cure

By Christine Hsu | Update Date: Oct 08, 2013 03:19 PM EDT

The hangover is a painful price for a night of booze-filled fun. For party animals, Sundays are designated for rest and definitely not recreation.

However, new research reveals that revelers can party on and skip the next-day misery by arming themselves with a can of Sprite.

Chinese scientists have recently discovered that the bubbly, lemon-lime drink helps the body breakdown alcohol.

After analyzing 57 beverages ranging from teas to sodas, scientists from Sun Yat-Sen University in Guangzhou found that Sprite was the best hangover cure.

Researchers explained that hangover symptoms like nausea and headaches happen when the body breaks down alcohol.  The liver releases the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) that breaks ethanol into acetaldehyde when people drink alcohol. Acetaldehyde is then metabolized by enzyme aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) and turned into acetate.

While acetate is harmless, acetaldehyde may be the culprit for excruciating hangover symptoms, according to experts.

Researchers found that Sprite helped quicken the breakdown process, thus reducing the duration and diminishing the effects of excruciating hangovers.

"These results are a reminder that herbal and other supplements can have pharmacological activities that both harm and benefit our health," said Edzard Ernst, Emeritus Prodessor of complementary medicine at the University of Exeter, according to Chemistry World.

The findings are published in the journal Food and Function.

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