How to prevent hangover? Drinking water, eating heavy meals don't help

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A new study has found that hangover symptoms cannot be relieved by drinking water or eating greasy food.

A study presented at the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP) conference in Amsterdam reveals that there is no cure for a hangover. The researchers from Netherlands and Canada state that the only way to not get a hangover is to not drink too much alcohol.

As for "hangover cures" such as drinking water and eating fatty food for breakfast, researchers say that there is no such thing.

"From what we know from the surveys so far, the only practical way to avoid a hangover is to drink less alcohol," said Dr. Joris Verster, lead author of the study, via the Independent. "Those who took food or water showed a slight statistical improvement in how they felt over those who didn't, but this didn't really translate into a meaningful difference."

Verster told the BBC that water can only remedy a person's thirst and their dry mouths, but it will not treat hangover symptoms such as headache and nausea.

For the study, researchers surveyed students regarding their drinking habits, number of drinks consumed and their hangovers the next day. In the report by CBS, the researchers made a formula to factor the drinking time frame, gender, weight, and number of drinks to figure out the blood alcohol concentration of those who had hangovers and those who didn't.

There is no evidence why drinking water or eating can help prevent a hangover; however, Dr. Howard Forman of New York City's Montefiore Medical Center said that he has a theory why these two might be good ideas in case a person goes for heavy alcohol consumption.

"When you have high-fat foods, it slows your rate of digestion, and because it slows your rate of digestion it's going to slow the rate at which alcohol is absorbed into your system," he explained to CBS News. "Eating high-fat foods, like peanuts, allows someone to drink more alcohol but potentially never reach the high concentrations of alcohol in the blood that might cause someone to have a hangover."

When asked what causes alcohol hangover, Verster told the outlet that although it is widely believed that it may be caused by dehydration, it's not that simple. He explains that it may be involved with the immune system but is still unclear how this is so and if no cause is found, no cure can be developed.