Beer before wine…you won’t feel fine, science confirms 

Source: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/

Sarah Knapton, science editor

8 FEBRUARY 2019 

The maxim ‘beer before wine and you’ll feel fine, but wine before beer and you’ll feel queer’ is advice which has been followed by generations of drinkers eager to avoid a raging hangover.

Yet a new study by Cambridge University and German scientists suggests that the order of drinking does little to stave off nausea and a throbbing head.

Researchers asked volunteers to drink two and a half pints of beer followed by four large glasses of wine, while a second group consumed the same amount of alcohol in reverse order.

The next day they were asked to rate their hangover on a score of 0 – 56 which measures thirst, fatigue, headache, dizziness, nausea, stomach ache, increased heart rate and loss of appetite.

A week later the groups were asked to switch around to gauge whether the order of drinks made any difference.

But after recording the levels of hangovers from both groups, researchers concluded there was no difference. Put simply, if you drink too much, you’re still likely to be ill whether you follow the rule or not.

Dr Kai Hensel, a senior clinical fellow at the University of Cambridge and senior author of the study, said the team originally hoped to come up with sound scientific advice to help people avoid hangovers.

“A clear result in favour of one particular order could help to reduce hangovers and help many people have a better day after a night out – though we encourage people to drink responsibly,” said Dr Hensel.

“Unfortunately, we found that there was no way to avoid the inevitable hangover just by favouring one order over another.

“Unpleasant as hangovers are, we should remember that they do have one important benefit, at least: they are a protective warning sign that will certainly have aided humans over the ages to change their future behaviour. In other words, they can help us learn from our mistakes.”

The belief that drinkers can be spared a hangover by drinking beer first, can be found in several countries.

In Germany, the saying goes “Wein auf Bier, das rat’ ich Dir-Bier auf Wein, das lass’ sein” , which translates roughly as “Wine after beer, I advise you to drink, beer after wine, let it go”

Likewise in French, the proverb goes “Bière sur vin est venin, vin sur bière est belle manière” or ‘beer after wine is venom, wine after beer is an excellent path.”

Hangover symptoms occur when higher-than-normal blood alcohol concentrations drop back to zero bringing dehydration, changes in immune response, and disturbances of our metabolism and hormones.

They are likely to be influenced by ingredients other than the pure alcohol content, such as colourings and flavourings which is why clear spirits are often the best way to avoid a pounding head.

Yet switching the order did not have an impact. In fact, the English saying: “Grape or grain, but never the twain” may be the most sensible advice.

“Using white wine and lager beer, we didn’t find any truth in the idea that drinking beer before wine gives you a milder hangover than the other way around,” added first author Dr Jöran Köchling from Witten/Herdecke University.

“The truth is that drinking too much of any alcoholic drink is likely to result in a hangover.

“The only reliable way of predicting how miserable you’ll feel the next day is by how drunk you feel and whether you are sick. We should all pay attention to these red flags when drinking.”

The research was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.