Study: Bourbon Produces Worse Hangovers Than Vodka
An important new study reports that a hangover caused by drinking bourbon is much worse than a hangover caused by drinking vodka. Cognitive impairment because of drinking is the same with either drink. But you'll feel worse after drinking the bourbon. This is especially bad news for those that like to spike the holiday eggnog with a good dollop of bourbon.
It's not just the alcohol that causes hangover symptoms, which are also caused by toxic substances called congeners. Human bodies and congeners do not mix very well.
The authors weren't simply looking at the effects of alcohol, however. They were specifically interested in the levels of toxic substances called congeners in the alcohol. These compounds are byproducts of alcohol fermentation, and they are partly responsible for the alcohol's color. Darker liquors and wines have more congeners than lighter ones -- for instance, the amount of congeners in bourbon is 37 times the amount in vodka, according to the study.
"While the alcohol alone is enough to make many people feel sick the next day, these toxic natural substances can add to the ill effects as our body reacts to them," Damaris Rohsenow, a professor at the Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies at Brown University, said in a statement.
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The results will be published in the March 2010 issue of the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research. The study was funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, and the National Center for Research Resources, among others.
So, the darker the alcohol the worse the hangover. Got it.
