Wine and beer drinking order does not affect hangover?

Does the order of drinking wine and beer matter for hangover severity?

It is well established that drinking too much alcohol will result in a hangover.

It is commonly suggested that the hangover will be less if you stick to one type of alcoholic drink, rather than drinking different types of drinks. In addition, there are several sayings such as: “Beer before wine and you’ll feel fine; wine before beer and you’ll feel queer”. This suggests that the order of drinks may impact the hangover.

This study investigated whether the order of drinking wine and beer affects the severity of hangover symptoms.

Subjects were on average 24 years old, drank alcohol several times a week, and had hangovers varying from rarely to a few times per week.

In total, 4 different treatments were tested: 1) beer only, 2) wine only, 3) first beer, then wine, and 4) first wine, then beer. Subjects had to drink their beverages until they reached a target breath alcohol concentration of 0.11%, and the groups that switched drinks switched when half this value was reached. The severity of their hangovers was rated using an acute hangover scale.

The hangover severity was not different between any of the groups.

This data suggest that drinking wine and beer together will not result in a more severe hangover when compared to drinking the same amount of alcohol as just one of them.

However, this does not mean that all alcoholic beverages will have the same impact. Other alcoholic drinks may cause more dehydration and/or have other ingredients that may also impact hangover severity. 

In conclusion, drinking beer and wine together does not affect hangover severity the next day.

Study:
Köchling et al. Grape or grain but never the twain? A randomized controlled multiarm matched-triplet crossover trial of beer and wine, Am J Clin Nutr, 2020

PS: Imagine getting paid to drink and help science…

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