Finnish Researchers Think They've Found a Real Hangover Cure - The results sound promising.

Food & Wine ^ | August 20, 2020 | Jelisa Castrodale

[nickcarraway]

Last November, Eurostat, the European Union's statistical office, published the results of its most recent Life Satisfaction survey. Residents of each of the EU's member countries were asked to evaluate how satisfied they were with their lives as a whole, using a scale from 0 to 10. In the end, the Finns proved to be the most pleased with ...well, everything, with a final score of 8.1.

The results of a new research study from the University of Helsinki and the University of Eastern Finland will probably give Finns something else to be happy about: according to Yle, these scientists think they've finally found an effective cure for hangovers.

Nineteen men were recruited for the study, and they spent their Friday nights in a hotel conference room downing a potent 10% ABV combination of cranberry juice and Koskenkorva, a Finnish grain alcohol. The number of drinks each participant received was based on his body weight; a 165-pound-man would get nine servings. (Of course, with only men included in the study, there are serious limitations to its findings.)

"There were clearly intoxicated people, but no-one was falling down drunk," University of Helsinki researcher Markus Metsälä said.

Each participant was given either a placebo, a pill containing 600 mg of the amino acid L-cysteine, or a 1,200 mg dose of L-cysteine. The next morning, they were asked to answer a number of questions about how they were feeling, and whether they felt headachy, nauseous, stressed, or just, you know, hungover. The researchers discovered that the men who received the 1,200 mg pill experienced less severe headaches and nausea, while those who had the smaller dose felt less anxious overall.

"L-cysteine would reduce the need of drinking the next day with no or less hangover symptoms: nausea, headache, stress and anxiety," the researchers wrote in their conclusions. "Altogether, these effects of L-cysteine are unique and seem to have a future in preventing or alleviating these harmful symptoms as well as reducing the risk of alcohol addiction."

Metsälä told Yle that some of the study's original participants became "so unwell" that they couldn't complete the sessions, while others were such serious drinkers that they never got hammered enough to get a hangover.

"Some subjects, on the other hand, did not have the patience to stop drinking when the study's official drink sessions came to an end, but instead continued to drink more at the hotel bar," he said. "They also had to be excluded from the study."

The study itself was funded by Catapult Cat, which is, um, a Finnish cat food company. It also sells L-cysteine supplements—for humans—so it's surely delighted by the final results. This research was published in the most recent issue of the Oxford Academic journal Alcohol and Alcoholism.

Being able to enjoy a couple of drinks (although maybe not nine drinks) on a Friday night without ruining your Saturday definitely ranks high on the Life Satisfaction scale. Thanks for sharing your good fortune, Finland.

[Jamestown1630]

I think more kids die in swimming accidents each year than have died of Covid.

It’s apparently the number-one cause of annual child deaths.

[ArcadeQuarters]

> I do not get hangovers.

Same. I drank plenty when I was younger and never got a hangover. My superpower goes to waste these days because I hardly ever drink.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

I bet it involved eating the Finnish variety of surströmming, called hapansilakka. If you eat it, you won’t worry about a hangover, or a broken large bone anymore.

[MrChips]

19 people too small a study. Excedrin works for me.

[jocon307]

Make your nightcap a big drink of H2O, a lot of it is dehydration and this can really help.

[Pilsner]

The hangover preventative is remembering the old saying:

No one ever woke up regretting having had one too few.

[rlmorel]

I have been hung over five times in my life. Each one was bad. Memorable. But the last one ended kind of funny.

I had gone to a big halloween party the night before, and here was my costume:


It had a camera inside so I could see where I was going...drinking tubes...battery powered fans pulling in fresh air and exhausting it out the other side...all mounted on an old hockey helmet. But the night didn't end up so well. I ended up drinking what were called "urine shots" and were served in test tubes in a rack. A combination of Vodka and Red Bull. Now, I NEVER drink Vodka, and NEVER EVER drank Red Bull...not even coffee. I was totally unprepared for what that vicious concoction did to me when I drank a bunch of them. I was unable to drive and stayed in my car overnight. I made my way back home next morning, and was miserable. As I wallowed in my misery, each second feeling slightly worse than before, I resolved to get something in my stomach.

Anything.

Near at hand was a fortune cookie. Well, that is a fairly bland thing. It is something.

So, as I sat in my office, I carefully opened the cookie, and the fortune fell to the ground between my legs.

I rolled my chair back away from the desk and still seated, bent to pick it up.

And smashed my aching head into the edge of the desk.

Nearly mad with pain, nausea, anger, dizziness, and embarrassment, I was groaning and gritting my teeth.

Absentmindedly, holding my forehead with one hand, I looked at the fortune cookie in the other and it said:

"The day only gets better from here."

[Jamestown1630]

That sounds as appetizing as Lutefisk.

[BradyLS]

When I was a kid, skinny, and binged on cheap bear, I’d have cotton-mouth, headache, and nausea after a night of drinking.

As I aged, put on weight, and gained experience, the worst I’d feel the next morning would be a sense of vertigo.

To me, the trick to drinking is to drink moderately on a full stomach with periodic intakes of water.

Learn to stop after three drinks. But if you drink more, chase each drink with a 12-16oz of water.

[BradyLS]

Damn those cheap bears!

[Revolutionary]

Even easier: Drink two glasses of water before bedtime. Dehydration is the main culprit for the hangover symptoms.

[Shortstop7]

Agreed. Just eat some crackers or chips of some kind...and drink some water. Much easier in the morning.

[Tunehead54]

Hair of dog. You’re welcome. ;-)

[Hildy]

A hangover is s God’s wake up call.

[doorgunner69]

Never had one of these new energy drinks. But, as I age, I wonder if the energy hit would help my ambition going into a weight lifting session?

Can use all the help I can get.

[HumanDeer]

Condition. 컨디션. A Korean hangover drink in a small green bottle. Actually works. As long as you drink it while you are drinking, not after. It is in Psy's video with Snoop Dog.

[SanchoP]

[Mom MD]

or don’t start

[RandallFlagg]

I never got hangovers.
Then I turned fifty.
Ugh!!

[trebb]

And a double dose of B vitamins.