So, you are new to the poison (alcohol) world? It would be wise to know your poison rather than being sorry. Veisalgia or a hangover is caused when you consume excess amount of alcohol or any other drug(s). Once you consume excess amount of alcohol the after effects are painful which is commonly known as Hangover. Hangover symptoms include dry mouth, bloodshot eyes, headaches, dizzy feeling, vomiting and nausea. Treatments includes taking vitamin C, plenty of water and food. Do not drink empty stomach and its wise if you eat and drink next morning. Now, lets check out each alcohol types and their hangover severity.
Whiskey/Scotch
Whiskey or Scotch is distilled from fermented grains, such as barley or wheat, then aged in wooded casks. Generally, people drink whiskey or scotch neat that causes erratic and unpredictable behavior. Moreover, it contains about 80 calories per 35ml shot with a hangover severity 8/10.
Single malt whiskies have been found to contain high levels of ellagic acid. This powerful acid inhibits the growth of tumours caused by certain carcinogens and kills cancer cells without damaging healthy cells.
Whiskey Madness – erratic and unpredictable behaviour – is a common problem with drinking whiskey which is caused by the way most people drink it – neat. Among women drinking the same amount of ethanol, those drinking it in the form of spirits, such as whisky, had the quickest and highest peak in the blood alcohol concentration, which occurred less than an hour after drinking began. If you drink any alcohol on an empty stomach, it can compare with getting it intravenously. ‘To slow absorption down, you could take it very much diluted or along with a rich, calorie-dense ingredient such as cream, as in Baileys or Irish coffee. Whiskey also contains lots of congeners, which tend to form during the ageing process in oak casks.
Vodka
Why you see most women sipping vodka the reason is simple Vodka is least likely to give you a hangover. Vodka is made by fermenting grains or crops such as potatoes with yeast. It’s then purified and repeatedly filtered, often through charcoal, strange as it sounds, until it’s as clear as possible.
Vodka contains no carbohydrates or sugars, it contains only calories from ethanol (around 7 calories per gram), making it the least-fattening alcoholic beverage. So a 35ml shot of vodka would contain about 72 calories with a hangover severity 3/10.
Vodka is the ‘cleanest’ alcoholic beverage because it contains hardly any ‘congeners’ – impurities normally formed during fermentation. These play a big part in how bad your hangover is. Despite its high alcohol content – around 40 per cent – vodka is the least likely alcoholic drink to leave you with a hangover. Keep in mind that Vodka is often a factor in binge drinking deaths because it is relatively tasteless when mixed with fruit juices or other drinks.
White Wine
White wine is made from the fermented juice of grapes stripped of their seeds and skins. White Wine contains around 130 calories per 175 ml glass; slightly more in sweeter wines with a hangover severity 6/10.
Drinking white wine is healthy because grape flesh contains the chemicals tyrosol and hydroxytyrosol, which help lower artery clogging LDL cholesterol. But, it’s the sulphites formed naturally or added to white wine as preservatives to stop it going brown which are the most likely cause of the ‘white wine hangover’ many people complain of.
Sulphites also carry the risk of an allergic reaction which can worsen symptoms such as a headache, or asthma. White wines also wear away tooth enamel faster, making teeth more sensitive.
Colour code: Red wine can cause a worse hangover than white wine because it contains methanol, a second type of alcohol that lingers in your body the next day
Red Wine
Red wine is made from fermented grape juice – but unlike white wine, with the skin and pips included. It’s then left to mature for a minimum of three years, during which pigments from the skins leech out and color the wine red. Red wine contains around 120 calories in a standard glass – it’s slightly lower in sugar content than white wine with hangover severity 7/10.
Red wine contains more reservatrol – a plant antioxidant – than white wine. This helps to prevent blood clots and reduce inflammation, which is now considered to play a key role in heart disease. Also, the pips and skins used in red wines contain tyrosol and hydroxytyrosol, chemicals which help lower artery-clogging LDL cholesterol.
Red wine drinkers can get worse hangovers than beer or white wine drinkers. Because of the way it’s made, red wine produces two types of alcohol – ethanol and methanol. The liver processes the ethanol part of the drink first and leaves methanol until last. ‘As a result, it’s likely to be floating around in the body for a lot longer than ethanol, giving you that familiar “morning after” feeling.
Beer
Beer is quite low in alcohol which is also the least dangerous to drink because it is made by fermenting barley. Hops are added for flavour and yeast to make the grains ferment into sugar and alcohol. By all means beer is the most calorierich alcoholic beverage – just one pint contains between 170 and 200 calories, about the same as seven chocolate fingers biscuits with a hangover severity 4/10.
Beer is the least dangerous to drink and doesn’t makes you feel that you have drank a lot because of the lowest alcohol content – between 3 and 6 per cent for lager, and up to 8 per cent for ale and stout. A pint also contains more than a quarter of an adult’s recommended dose of Vitamin B folate, which stops the build-up of homocysteinea chemical linked to heart attacks.
Beer is high in compounds called purines, which boost the levels of uric acid in the blood. This can form crystals in joints, leading to painful attacks of gout. One pint a day adds a 10 per cent risk of bowel cancer, while two pints a day increases the risk by 25 per cent so drink wisely.
Brandy
Brandy is a spirit distilled from red wine. Fine brandies are aged for extra flavour in wooden casks. Brandy contains around 80 calories in every 35ml shot with a hangover severity 9/10. Hangover caused by drinking brandy is like hell just because of the high amount of impurities.
Because brandy is a distillation of red wine, it contains a high concentration of antioxidants which mop-up ‘free radicals’ which, it’s claimed, can damage the body organs and tissues and lead to deadly diseases. Antioxidants created during the distilling process mean that 30ml of good brandy would give the equivalent antioxidant hit of the daily recommended intake of vitamin C.
Worst thing about Brandy is that it could give you the worst headache of all alcohols available in the market. This was closely followed by red wine, then rum, whisky and gin. Not only does brandy contain at least 40 per cent alcohol, the high quality cask-aged variety is likely to have the highest amounts of congeners, which are formed during the lengthy storage and fermentation process. Brandy contains literally hundreds of different volatile compounds, which gives it the distinctive pleasant smell but also contributes to the hangover.
Champagne
Champagne and sparkling wine are made in roughly the same way as wine – but then more yeast is added and it’s left to ferment in the bottle a second time, producing carbon dioxide.
An average 175 ml glass of Champagne contains 133 calories, slightly more than a glass of white wine because syrup is added to improve taste with a hangover severity 7/10.
The antioxidants in Champagne may help protect your brain against damage incurred during a stroke and against neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases. High levels antioxidants, called caffeic acid and tyrosol, helped protect brain cells from damage.
The bubbles speed up the absorption of alcohol into the bloodstream. And contrary to popular belief, Champagne won’t lift your spirits – alcohol affects brain receptors in the same way, whatever its source. Alcohol basically works in the same way in the brain receptors as Valium. It depresses brain activity and relieves anxiety. You might think you’re in a good mood, but it’s more likely the result of alcohol causing dis-inhibition, making you more talkative and exhibitionist.
So, what’s your favorite poison, please leave me a comment and let me know.
