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Q: Which gives you a worse hangover - red or white wine?
A: Either, if you drink too much, but red wine and other dark coloured drinks contain more congeners that can make a hangover worse.
Published 04/10/2007
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Hangovers are awful, some so bad that you vow never to touch another drink again, but is the secret to avoiding a hangover as simple as changing the alcohol you drink?
Not surprisingly the answer isn't simple, while the type of alcohol you drink can have an effect on how rotten you feel the next day it's not the biggest factor.
Professor Steve Allsop, from the National Drug Research Institute in Perth, says different types of alcohol can make your hangover worse – this is due to a number of things including congeners. Congeners contribute to the colour and flavour of alcoholic drinks, those that are higher in congeners are darker in colour. For example, brandy has more congeners than vodka, wine tends to have more congeners than clear spirits and red wine has more congeners than white wine.
Congeners are a toxic byproduct of the fermenting process in some alcohols, as the body processes congeners, toxins are created – these make you feel unwell. How rotten you feel depends on the amount of congeners you've consumed.
Allsop says some people may also have a reaction to certain components and additives in alcohol, for example the histamines in red wine can make some people who suffer hayfever feel miserable. Preservatives and colourings can also give you a nasty hangover if your body cannot tolerate them.
But congeners or no congeners, the main factors in determining whether you get a hangover are how much you drink, how quickly you drink and how effectively your body metabolises alcohol.
Hangovers are your body's message that you've had too much alcohol. You can lessen the impact of a hangover by taking simple measures such as not drinking on an empty stomach and drinking enough water throughout the night and the next day, but the best way of avoiding a hangover and potential long-term damage from alcohol is to only drink small amounts in the first place.
Read our alcohol fact file for more information about how alcohol affects your body and recommended alcohol limits.
Professor Steve Allsop is the director of the National Drug Research Institute at Curtin University of Technology in Perth. Professor Allsop was interviewed by Claudine Ryan.
Professor Steve Allsop is the director of the National Drug Research Institute at Curtin University of Technology in Perth.
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Comments (18)
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Sid :
17 Dec 2007 3:05:10pm
My recommendations:
Never drink on empty stomach.
Follow any drinking session with one cupful of yogurt, which is healthy and protects against hang-overs.
In any case, drinking red wine is for health reasons, not to get a hangover - right?
Sid -
Vicky :
14 Dec 2007 9:05:02pm
Having fruit juice in between alcoholic drinks speeds up the metabolism of the alcohol due to the fructose content of the juice.
Too many drinks and you can still be over .05 next morning and hence it's unsafe to be driving or operating machinery then. -
Barry :
16 Oct 2007 2:30:54pm
I have found that european wines (and some Australian organic wines) that are produced without additives are the best to drink - just pure grape juice !
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me :
27 Nov 2007 9:38:10am
Totally agree - I have also been told that the preservative 220 that is added to most Australian wines (and also sprayed on all seafood etc) contibutes to feeling unwell after wine. They have actually banned 220 in the USA as they beleieve it is correlated to illness such as leuchemia etc
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Rosanne :
13 Dec 2007 6:29:49pm
I used to get what I thought was a hangover after just one glass of red wine. I would be crook, feel nauseous, vomit, have a headache and quakes and shakes. I subsequently discovered I am extremely allergic to sulphur and sulphur dioxide (220). Nowadays I make my own wine and add NOTHING and while I restrict my limit sensibly, I now have NO problems after drinking at all.
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lp :
12 Feb 2008 1:42:57pm
HI, I was wondering what was causing me a terrible headache, but I think I've figured out it's when I have a glass of wine with preservative 220 in it. I mean, only one glass and i'll have this shocking headache that's not relieved by strong painkillers like ibuprofen+codeine or anything till about 24 hours later. Can anyone tell me where to get preservative free wines?
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Judy :
15 Oct 2007 11:47:46am
I find that white wine goes straight to my head and my face becomes quite flushed after one small glass, whereas red wine of the same amount doesn't have that effect.
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Andrew :
11 Oct 2007 11:52:48am
I find the more you pay for wine the less potential for brain ache. Here is a tip , take 60mg coenzyme Q10 before retiring makes a big difference in the morning!
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superman :
09 Oct 2007 10:10:04pm
I have always had bad headaches from a local red beer, and some light beers give me a nasty ache up the back of my neck straight after 2 stubbies.
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Maree Hilton :
09 Oct 2007 8:36:24am
I find red wine causes more problems for me. Although I don't drink enough to suffer a hangover, I tend to feel tired and 'seedy' the morning after having one or two glasses and if I drink it 3-4 times a week can sometimes suffer from migraine headaches.
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Chris :
05 Oct 2007 2:26:44pm
My father used to suffer hangovers with red wine that had lots of tannins in it. With the ligher reds he never had a problem. I find the reds too strong to drink perhaps from genetics?, i cant stomach them - only like the ligher whites.
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Helen :
04 Oct 2007 4:26:32pm
It's all common sense. There art some red wines that I do have what I call "sinus hangovers" from. But none of the facts will stop me from enjoying a great bottle of red or white.
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Stefanie Brisbane :
04 Oct 2007 4:06:54pm
Coming from Europe where no additives are allowed in beer or wines I was able to drink any kind of beer and wine.
Coming to Australia in 1973 and drinking beer I found myself being bloated and feeling incredibly lethargic. White wines are a definite no, but I am able to drink red wines. I do now smell the wines first and if I have an aversion to that particular red I don't touch it. There only a selected few I can drink. My GP advised me that the food colourings, the preservatives are the cause for me. I feel after one glass very sluggish and it takes me up to 4 days to get over it.
My husband brews beer in a Micro Brewery where they use natural products and no preservatives and brew all kinds of beer. These beers I can drink without feeling bloated. -
Bernadette Triegaardt :
04 Oct 2007 1:35:12pm
I am so put off by drinking alcohol. Whenever I do I am so thirsty through the night and very parched in the morning. I was out to dinner last night, had two glasses of white wine, half a glass of beer and felt very dry this morning. It must be something in the wine. I can understand if I drank the whole bottle, but it was two glasses!!
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Michael Angel :
05 Oct 2007 10:09:28pm
What exactly are "Congeners" please?
Many flavour companies are now just flaving spirit alcohol with "wiskey", "brandy' and other flavours; saving years in a keg.
Much to the delight of the distillery's accountants.-
Trudy Kent :
13 Oct 2007 4:31:41pm
I have found as I have gotten older, I'm 36 that I can now only tolerate moderate to low amounts of alcohol or I get the worse hangover the next day. It doesn't matter if I drink red or white the effect is the same.
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