Hangover-Free Beer Is on the Horizon, But Take It with a Grain of Salt

No sin should go without even the most meager form of punishment, right? If we subject ourselves to the wonderful poison known as alcohol, perhaps we should expect some kind of chemical comeuppance.

Not so, says Science, as it continues its ever-forward march to rid us of problems we might deserve in the first place.

And so it goes with the next generation of wines, beers, and liquors. We reported only last week that University of Illinois scientists are working on a method of genetically engineering wine yeast that could boost its health benefits while inhibiting the compounds that can cause hangovers. And that's great news for winos.

But that's only one tack. A hangover is a many-tentacled beast—and its roots in dehydration should certainly not be discounted. After all, that was the logic behind Er Boqueron, a Valencian craft beer made with seawater that we told you about back in October. Rich with minerals and electrolytes, the beer ostensibly keeps you (somewhat) hydrated as you piss away the four bottles you had prior.

Now, researchers at Griffith University's Menzies Health Institute Queensland are following suit. In a recent study published in the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, the researchers asked 12 male subjects to exercise on a stationary cycle, from which each of them lost fluid through perspiration. They were then given different post-workout drinks, which included both low- and medium-alcohol beers with varying levels of added sodium. At the end, the participants who drank the low-alcohol beer with higher levels of sodium urinated "significantly" less. Mid-strength beer with added electrolytes fared well, too.

Fluid retained, hangover cured? Well, not quite yet. This is still the experimental phase, and low-alcohol beer isn't exactly a hit with people who tend to have regular hangovers. For that reason, more research is needed.

"Now that we know that beer can be manipulated in a variety of ways to enhance its health-giving potential, the next step is to find out the attitudes of the beer drinking population," said research lead Ben Desbrow in a statement. "We want to know their attitudes to beer-drinking and what influences their behavior." As such, Desbrow is asking beer-drinking Australians to fill out a survey about their alcohol-quaffing tendencies.

Now we just need the GM yeast scientists to hook up with the electrolyte beer scientists and we'll have a rager of a party that everyone will remember very, very clearly the next morning