to the idea that greasy foods cure hangovers, students pass these adages along to peers. But is the advice fact or fiction?
Luke Abaffy | For The Post
la334303@ohiou.edu
Drinking maxims have been around longer than college kids have been overindulging in the substance. From beer before liquor never been sicker to the idea that greasy foods cure hangovers, students pass these adages along to peers. But is the advice fact or fiction?
1. Beer Before Liquor Never Been Sicker, Liquor Before Beer You're in the Clear
One common adage is the often quoted, Beer before liquor never been sicker; liquor before beer
you're in the clear.
I don't believe (the myth)
said Katherine Fortuna, an Ohio University senior studying exercise physiology. I think it's the amount that you drink.
Dr. Kenneth Brown, an OU biochemistry professor, said that drinking beer before liquor to prevent getting sick is not effective.
No
that shouldn't have any effect
Brown said. It's how much alcohol you take in.
2. Different Qualities of Liquor Affect How Drunk You Are
Another common belief is that different qualities of liquor affect how drunk or hungover a drinker becomes.
Brown said aside from toxic contaminants that can become mixed with alcohol during the fermentation and distillation process, this idea is a myth. Stray organic compounds often found in cheap varieties of liquor can negatively affect drinkers. These compounds are removed with additional distillation.
Dr. Peter Harrington, an OU chemistry professor, said some of those compounds, including fusel alcohols, could actually cause hangovers.
Fusel alcohols are similar to ethanol
but have longer chains and are produced as a byproduct of fermentation or distillation
Harrington said. This is why people like to pay a lot of money for triply filtered vodka. The filtration removes the other organic impurities
including these fusel alcohols
so you are less likely to have a hangover.
This leads to a more obscure alchemy question: how can the average person craft cheap liquor into a higher quality product?
Harrington said the different systems of filtration used on water - such as charcoal or ion exchange - remove different particles from the liquid. These processes could have the same effect on alcohol.
Charcoal filtration gets some of the organics to stick
