You may be able to wave goodbye to hangovers soon, because a group of scientists claim they've found a cure.
Sometimes a couple of Berocca, paracetamol or stuffing yourself with a full English doesn't quite cut it when it comes to the most gruelling, headachy, stomach-churning hangovers.
Thankfully, tactical chunders may now be a thing of the past, as a team of scientists from China have reportedly discovered a probiotic, which may not make your beer-fear go away, but could help you crawl out of bed and not waste a whole day.
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In a bid to reduce the damaging effects of alcohol consumption and absorption on the liver, the group of scientists created an oral 'hADH1B-expressing probiotic' to help break down the alcohol in the intestinal tract.
Focusing on the intake of wine - because who doesn't love a large glass of red after a hard day's work? - the scientists tested the probiotic they created on a group of drunken mice.
Before testing out the probiotic, the scientists recorded how long it took the drunk mice to recover by themselves - 'six to 10 hours'.
An hour after the alcohol challenge, the mice were then placed into 'an exercise recorder' and monitored every 15 seconds to see how quickly they recovered from the affects of the alcohol, some with and some without the help of the probiotic.
The study explains: "The righting reflex was used as the criterion to determine drunkenness. Briefly, each mouse was placed on its back on the ground with its abdomen and limbs facing upward. If the mouse could not turn itself over within 30 seconds, it was considered to have lost its normal righting reflex.
"The time point at which the righting reflex was lost was defined as the drunkenness point, and the duration between the first drink and drunkenness was taken as the alcohol tolerance time."
The study found the mice who had taken the probiotic regained their exercise capacity after around 5.5 hours. The mice who hadn't taken the probiotic took about 6.4 hours.
One quarter of the mice who had taken the probiotic also 'did not lose their self-righting reflex and exercised throughout the whole process' while 'all the mice' who hadn't taken it 'lost their locomotor ability after the alcohol challenge'.
The probiotic not only reduced how much alcohol was absorbed in the body, but also upped the length of time the host was able to tolerate alcohol, as well as shortening the recovery time 'after acute alcohol challenge'.
A member of the study Meng Dong, Ph.D, said: "We believe genetically engineered probiotics will provide new ideas for the treatment of liver diseases.
"We are excited about the improvement of recombinant probiotics in acute alcohol-induced liver and intestinal damage."
The study, titled 'Oral Probiotic Expressing Human Ethanol Dehydrogenase Attenuates Damage Caused by Acute Alcohol Consumption in Mice,' is published in the Journal of Microbiology Spectrum.
Please drink responsibly. If you want to discuss any issues relating to alcohol in confidence, contact Drinkline on 0300 123 1110, 9am–8pm weekdays and 11am–4pm weekends for advice and support
Topics: Food And Drink, Science, Health, Mental Health
Poppy Bilderbeck