There are a number of urban myths and old wives' tales related to preventing or curing hangover, which can be proven wrong through a bit of trial and error and some science. One of these includes the questionable belief that drinking beer before wine may potentially prevent a hangover. However, a new study - published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition - has debunked the myth that says, "Beer before wine and you'll feel fine; wine before beer and you'll feel queer." The team of researchers from Witten/Herdecke University in Germany and the University of Cambridge in Britain concluded after the study that no matter how you order your drinks, you are very likely to get a hangover, if you go overboard with your drinks order.
"Alcohol-induced hangover constitutes a significant, yet understudied, global hazard and a large socio-economic burden", says the study, adding, "Old folk wisdoms such as "Beer before wine and you'll feel fine; wine before beer and you'll feel queer" exist in many languages. However, whether these concepts in fact reduce hangover severity is unclear." The researchers set out to ascertain the impact of the combination of wine and beer on the intensity of the hangover that they induce on the drinker. To test the validity of the advice, researchers asked one group of people to down two and a half pints of beer, followed by four glasses of wine, while the other group was asked to consume the drinks in reverse order. A third group was asked to polish off either wine or beer, but not both.
A week later, participants were asked to reverse their order or drinks so that the researchers could compare the results. The scientists monitored the participants' levels of drunkenness and well-being at regular intervals and rated them on a scale of 0 to 10, at the end of both days. Additionally, the participants were monitored under medical supervision throughout the night after their drinking binge and were also given a specific amount of water according to their respective body weight. They recorded the participants' levels of nausea, dizziness, headache and other hangover symptoms and concluded that the drink order did not impact how hungover a participant was. They also found out that women were more susceptible to effects of heavy drinking than men.