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Tomatoes good for hangovers

36 Comments
By Master Blaster

We all know that tomato juice with its frosty phlegm-like consistency can really bring down the best of days. Even the much needed boost it received as a diet fad appears to be quickly waning due to its general crappiness.

Now, researchers on the dime of beverage companies Asahi and Kagome have discovered that it can also bust up anyone’s party by reversing the effects of alcohol.

According to the study, subjects were examined drinking 100mL of alcohol chased with 480mL of tomato juice. Then they repeated the experiment with a chaser of 480mL of water on the same people.

They found that when chasing with tomato juice the blood alcohol levels became 3 times lower than with the water. On top of that, the test subject became completely sober 50 minutes faster with the tomato juice than the water.

A similar test was conducted using rats who were fed both water and a water with highly dissolved elements of tomato juice, because apparently even rats hate that red pulpy mess. The results confirmed what they previously thought.

The researchers conclude that drinking tomato juice triggers enzymes in your liver on top of the ones normally activated when you drink. In layman’s terms, whenever something bad goes into your body like booze or pills, your liver sends out the little things to bust some heads throughout your body and clean shop.

However, when tomato juice, the most unholy of substances, is consumed your liver goes into overdrive. This process inadvertently also clears up the fun intoxicants, in their furor to get at the tomato juice.

This is good news for anyone who needs to end the party quickly, but this research leaves me with a grimy feeling not unlike the one after drinking a glass of tomato juice. First, this scientific breakthrough is suspiciously convenient for Asahi and Kagome who together are currently selling Tomate, a line of alcoholic carbonated tomato drinks.

Second, this report was done comparing tomato juice with water. Sure, water is a good baseline to test something, but wouldn’t any other drink in the world (outside of more alcohol) help to speed up sobriety more than water?

This assumption is based on the fact that other drinks have various vitamins, minerals, sugars, and whatnot whereas water is just plain water. A better study would pit tomato juice against some stalwart cures like black coffee, Gatorade, or milk.

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36 Comments
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Interesting article, and really entertaining, thanks!

On top of that, the test subject became completely sober 50 minutes faster with the tomato juice than the water.

I defy anyone to get bladdered in the first place on 100ml of alcohol followed by nearly half a litre of water or tomato juice!

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Haha, it will soon be tomato season on the garden, I often sit on the deck with a cold one & bowl of fresh tomoates, great atsumami!

1 ( +2 / -1 )

i have an even better remedy - don`t get blotto in the first place.

-1 ( +5 / -6 )

We all know that tomato juice with its frosty phlegm-like consistency

We all don't... what kind of stupid writing is this? Some people (like me) really enjoy the juice - no need for author's disgusting comments.

19 ( +22 / -3 )

We all know that tomato juice with its frosty phlegm-like consistency can really bring down the best of days. Even the much needed boost it received as a diet fad appears to be quickly waning due to its general crappiness.

Great opening lines.

Still like a good Bloody Mary though.

-5 ( +2 / -7 )

sillygirl, that's not a remedy, that's a preventative measure. What I don't understand is this: "Sure, water is a good baseline to test something, but wouldn’t any other drink in the world (outside of more alcohol) help to speed up sobriety more than water". The only time I ever get hangovers is when I'm too drunk to drink a litre of cold water before sleeping.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Ebisen, exactly. The author has to learn the difference between a news story (which this essentially is) and a personal essay (in this case a juvenile rant). As for the misleading headline, the word "hangover" does not appear a single time in the story.

6 ( +8 / -2 )

I found the article phlegmatic.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

What it the meaning of 100% alcohol in this text?

Sure, one can not drink 100% alcohol, so was it actually a mix of pure alcohol with water compared to a mix of pure alcohol with tomato juice?

Yuck.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

We all don't... what kind of stupid writing is this?

Ebisen, exactly. The author has to learn the difference between a news story (which this essentially is) and a personal essay (in this case a juvenile rant).

Have you checked the source? It's not a news site just a blog about weird stuff.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

"Now, researchers on the dime of beverage companies Asahi and Kagome..."

That's where I stopped reading.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

"A better study would pit tomato juice against some stalwart cures like black coffee, Gatorade, or milk."

Actually, probably not, unless you were using two out of those three as some sort of control variable.

The primary culpit behind hangovers is dehydration. Sure, loss of certain minerals and vitamins plays a part, but the biggie is that you're body is dried out from the alcohol, thus the headaches and inability to concentrate. Alcohol is a diuretic, after all. In other words, it creates an irresistible urge to pee -- say goodbye to all your body's moisture and nutrients.

So coffee as a cure? Oh, hell no. Caffeine is also a diuretic and just continues to dry you out. In the end, downing a pot of coffee won't make you sober any faster. It'll just make you a wide-awake drunk who will experience an even more pronounced hangover the next morning.

Milk? While an extra boost of calcium is always welcome, and the moisture component of milk can't be ignored, it still doesn't hold a candle to the actual re-hydrating power of a simple glass of water.

Which leaves us with Gatorade (or in the interest of keeping the article more region-specific, Pocari Sweat or Aquarius). While packed with fancy sounding things like electrolytes, there's little clinical evidence to show that it's any more effective at replenishing vital fluids than water.

Which leaves is with the true stalwart cure -- Water, in all it's free, readily available glory, making it the perfect competitor to line up against the apparently proven effectiveness of tomato juice. There might be more truth to this than not, even if Kagome is co-sponsor of the research. Bloody Marys are a commonly recommended cure for hangovers -- although "cure" isn't exactly accurate. Preventative measure might be more apt. Just eliminate the vodka, and you may very well be on your way to a relatively pain-free day-after.

Regardless of whether tomato juice works or not, the best approach I've found to enjoying my nights out without buyer's regret the next day is to match every alcoholic drink I have with it's equivalent in water. Works every time and I still can enjoy the happy buzz my favorite beer brings.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Hangovers are mainly caused by dehydration - so what is needed is water, and very little else.

However, that doesn't mean that drinking water alone before bed will help avoid a hangover - as mentioned above, alcohol is a diuretic, so even though a person may drink a lot of water, that water will be quickly sent to the kidneys and bladder (or bedsheets if you're really drunk!)

What is needed is something to bind to the water and keep it from being sent straight to the bladder. Something salty should do the trick - a glass of salted water would be ideal, but anything will do.

The magical hangover-preventing properties of the late night kebab are as much to do with their high salt content as their ability to 'soak everything up'.

Likewise, chips are made of potatoes which have a high sodium content, not to mention that people often add more salt.

I've no idea whether tomatoes are high in sodium though.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

"tomato juice with its frosty phlegm-like consistency"

It doesn't have a frosty phlegm-like consistency, the writer is nuts.

"its general crappiness"

Again, the writer is nuts. Tomato juice is a great drink!

"I've no idea whether tomatoes are high in sodium"

Only if salt is added in processed foods or in commercial tomato juice, which often be the case! But recently we can buy no salt added tomato juice in Japan.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

"phlegm-like consistency"???

Is this a joke? I hope nobody was paid to write that.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

the base of the bloody mary,

breakfast drink of the immortals ;-/

2 ( +2 / -0 )

i heard prarie oysters are a good remedy for hangovers nvr tried it though, lol, but that is pretty interesting, too bad the taste of tomato juice is gross to me =/

0 ( +1 / -1 )

However, when tomato juice, the most unholy of substances,

To each his or her own, however think about this, if any member wrote some of the junk in this article odds are they would have their post deleted.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Don't frickin drink so much. Case solved.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Add a little juice from a jar of Polish pickles to tomato juice. Something about the dill, garlic, and salt helps give tomato juice oomph, and lessen the headache...

If memory serves...

0 ( +0 / -0 )

While growing up, and before the "drinking age", mother told us to drink half a litre of milk BEFORE drinking any alcohol because it lines the stomach. Having loved tomatoes all my life, I now know why I've never had a hangover!

1 ( +1 / -0 )

I guess this article should have appeared before the Assistant Police Officer drove his car into the back of a taxi...

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Netninja, that may solve the problem of hangovers, but it opens up a new problem: being boring.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Unless they're mixed with clam juice and alcohol, in which case they make for an even worse hangover than previously anticipated.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Quick question here. Does "on the dime" in the article mean "on the pay" of???

Quote: "Now, researchers on the dime of beverage companies Asahi and Kagome..."

0 ( +0 / -0 )

" First, this scientific breakthrough is suspiciously convenient for Asahi and Kagome "

....and there is the center of the story. Who do they think they are fooling with this kind of sponsored "research"?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I love my sake and I love tomato juice. And tomatoes!!

1 ( +1 / -0 )

I hate tomatoes and tomato juice, but I do understand that it is good for me. They say it makes your veins and capillaries younger than for your age.

So I have tomato juice every morning and I'll order the occasional Bloody Mary. Boring or what?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

When I was younger I had heard that tomato juice would work wonders in getting rid of a hangover. But when I had a hangover I never considered drinking tomato juice 'cause if I did so it would probably have emptied the stomach quicker than a stomach pump.

Otherwise, I love both tomatoes and tomato juice. I've eaten tomatoes almost every day since I started eating as a baby.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Best advice for a hangover. 1can of tomato juice or fresh tomatoes, one raw egg, mix well, quickly down, taste like crap ( really) but it sure helps!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

tomato juice is delicious

1 ( +1 / -0 )

"Quick question here. Does "on the dime" in the article mean "on the pay" of???"

Good question. Sorry. That's an American-ism. It means, "At the expense of [someone else]"

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I recommend plenty of water before and after. If all else fails then aviators oxygen does wonders for any hangover.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

One must assume then if the article is correct and backed by scientific rigor...the Bloody Mary is the perfect beverage!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Dizzgusting article

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Hmmm, this sounds similar to DHM derived from the Oriental Raisin Tree. I hear that it can not only help metabolize the alcohol in your system quicker, but it can also protect your brain from the negative side effects of alcohol as well. Sounds like the ticket for me, I'm a lightweight and I get terrible hangovers! They just published research conducted at the UCLA Medical Center as well as a press release about DHM and a company in California producing a supplement called BluCetin with DHM being the active ingredient. I've ordered some up so I'll let you know how it works once I put it to the test ;-)

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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