You know you’ve been there: churning stomach and pounding head the morning after a party. You could try a little “hair of the dog.” Bartender Matthew Vondenstein says one of his customers swears by a whiskey cocktail.
“A muddled orange—heavily, heavily, heavily bittered with Angostura and Peychaud’s. And top that with a little soda and put a raw egg on top of it,” he says.
But Dr. Frank Greenway, a metabolic researcher at LSU’s Pennington Biomedical Research Center, says adding more alcohol isn’t the answer.
“Hangovers take place when the alcohol level is back down to zero. It’s what happens after you drink,” Greenway says. “You know, alcohol is converted to acetaldehyde and it’s acetaldehyde that tends to be one of the more toxic metabolites of alcohol.”
Some research has shown that an amino acid in eggs-- cysteine-- can bind to the acetaldehyde, reducing its effects-- hence that raw egg. Or there’s always bartender Benjamin Moore’s favorite remedy: “I like a bowl of soup. Egg drop soup is usually the best, I find—easiest on the stomach. And a cup of black coffee. That usually gets me through the morning.”
According to Dr. Greenway, the biggest factor in a miserable morning after is dehydration. Staying well-hydrated can help those hangover symptoms. But the only true guaranteed cure is prevention.
“By and large, the best treatment for a hangover is not to drink too much.”