Vegans Suffer Worse Hangovers Than Meat Eaters, Study Finds

Consuming meat might not be so bad after-all because a new plus point in 'vegans vs meat eaters' chart finds that the former suffer worse hangovers compared to the latter. As part of a new study from the Utrecht University in the Netherlands, researchers looked at the correlation between dietary nutrient intake and the severity of a hangover. The findings published in Journal of Clinical Medicine based on the experiment on 13 social drinkers ‘between 18-30 years old’ and ‘mentally and physically healthy’ by the Dutch researchers wrote that vegans slosh worse than meat-eaters.

Twenty-three hangover symptoms were monitored in participants on a control night and after a night out drinking, which included headaches, nausea, heart palpitations, vomiting, dizziness, sweating, sensitivity to light and sound and thirst.

 ‘’Overall hangover severity was assessed with a single one-item rating on an 11-point scale ranging from 0 (absent) to 10 (extreme).

In addition, using the same scale, severity of 23 hangover symptoms was assessed, including headache, nausea, concentration problems, regret, sleepiness, heart pounding, vomiting, being tired, shaking/shivering, clumsiness, weakness, dizziness, apathy, sweating, stomach pain, confusion, sensitivity to light, sensitivity to sound, thirst, heart racing, anxiety, depression, and reduced appetite’’, the study, for the calculation explains.

The researchers found that, out of the 13 drinkers, those who had a diet low in zinc and vitamin B3 suffered the most from hangover symptoms. Zinc is most commonly found in meat, shellfish and legumes while Vitamin B3 is found in animal products like meat, poultry and fish, as well as in whole grains, peanuts, avocados and mushrooms.

“Nicotinic acid and zinc are required to break ethanol, which is alcohol, down into acetaldehyde,” Rabia De LaTour, MD, gastroenterologist and assistant professor of medicine at NYU Langone Health told The Post.

“You need these two nutrients to digest alcohol … It makes sense that if you’re lacking in it, you would experience a worse hangover’’ she added.

De LaTour however adds about how meat-eating should mean no hangover based on a study should be taken too seriously,

“Now whether or not you can … package up a pill and tell people that if they take the pill before they drink they won’t get hangovers, I don’t think we’re there yet,” she says.