Add oxygen to alcohol for fewer hangovers

Jake Widman
Thursday, 04 March 2010 11:02

Science - Health

New research from South Korea suggests that extra dissolved oxygen in alcoholic drinks helps the body metabolize and eliminate the alcohol faster.

The research was conducted by In-hwan Baek, Byung-yo Lee, and Kwang-il Kwon of Chungnam National University's College of Pharmacy and will be published in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.

The body needs oxygen to metabolize alcohol, and the more oxygen available, the quicker the alcohol is processed.

Since breathing is a relatively inefficient way of delivering oxygen to the stomach, the researchers decided to see if adding oxygen to the drink itself made a difference.

"Healthy humans" were given 240ml and 360ml adult beverages containing 19.5% alcohol by volume. Some of the drinks had 8ppm oxygen (normal), some 20, and some 25. Breath samples were taken at various periods of time after ingestion.

The results showed that those who consumed the more highly oxygenated got to low blood alcohol levels faster than the the normal oxygen group.

"In conclusion," the researchers write, "elevated dissolved oxygen concentrations in alcoholic drinks accelerate the metabolism and elimination of alcohol. Thus, enhanced dissolved oxygen concentrations in alcohol may have a role to play in reducing alcohol-related side effects and accidents."