New research suggests that eating fatty foods or chugging several glasses of water after heavy drinking does not prevent a hangover, BBC News reported.
A team of international researchers from the Netherlands and Canada found that the only way to avoid a hangover the morning after is to drink less alcohol.
"In general, we found a pretty straight relationship; the more you drink, the more likely you are to get a hangover. The majority of those who in fact reported never having a hangover tended to drink less, perhaps less than they themselves thought would lead to a hangover," lead author Dr. Joris Verster of Utrecht University said in a statement.
In the Netherlands, researchers questioned more than 800 Dutch students on their latest heavy drinking session, and whether they had food or water after drinking alcohol. They found that 54.4 percent of students ate after drinking. The students were asked to rate their hangover (from absent to extreme). In fact, hangover severity was not very different between the two groups, The Blaze reported.
"Those who took food or water showed a slight statistical improvement in how they felt over those who didn't, but this didn't really translate into a meaningful difference. From what we know from the surveys so far, the only practical way to avoid a hangover is to drink less alcohol," Verster said.
Excessive alcohol consumption has familiar consequences, many of them quite damaging. If a person does not experience a hangover -- and 25 to 30 percent of drinkers regularly claim this -- they may be more likely to continue drinking.
Researchers also surveyed nearly 800 were surveyed about their drinking in the previous month, and questioned about the number of drinks, the timeframe of consumption, and the severity of their hangover. The researchers calculated the estimated Blood Alcohol Concentration in those who experienced hangovers and those who didn't. They found that 79 percent of those who claimed not to experience hangovers had an estimated blood alcohol level of less than 0.10 percent.
This is around twice the safe driving limits of 0.05 percent in many European countries such as the Netherlands, France and Germany. England and Wales, and many states in the USA, have a 0.08 percent limit.
The findings were presented at the 28th European college of Neuropsychopharmacology Congress in Amsterdam.
