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Want to avoid a hangover? DRINK MORE, say boffins

Erm, yeah, more Korean pear juice, that is, before you hit the hard stuff

The juice of Korean pear Pyrus pyrifolia might just be the greatest discovery in all human history, as boffins think the fruit can reduce the severity of hangovers.

Korean pears are often sold as “nashi pears” from Japan. The fruit is lighter than a European pear, boast slightly tart flesh, and a density somewhere between that of a watermelon and an apple.

Professor Manny Noakes, research director in the food and nutrition group at Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), has been testing the pears by giving drinkers a 220ml shot of their juice before they get into the harder stuff.

Noakes now believes that “the factors in Korean pears act on the key enzymes involved in alcohol metabolism, alcohol dehydrogenase and aldehyde dehydrogenase to speed up alcohol metabolism and elimination or inhibition of alcohol absorption".

Inhibited absorption isn't the best news, however, as Noakes has also spotted “reductions ... in blood acetaldehyde levels, the toxic metabolic thought to be responsible for the hangover symptoms” after knocking back a tall, frosty pear juice.

A preliminary study has also found that “Overall hangover severity, as measured by a 14-item hangover symptom scale, was significantly reduced in the Korean pear group compared with those having a placebo drink, with the most pronounced effect seen on the specific symptom of ‘trouble concentrating’.”

Hang on? What's this story about. Sorry, but I’m not as think as you hungover I am.

Two pints at lunch? ®

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