Asparagus: The Hangover Helper?

The night was fun while it lasted, but after a few too many brews last night, it’s the morning after, and you’re hopelessly hangover.

Sound familiar?

Anyone who’s even dabbled with alcohol knows what it’s like to have a hangover:  the dizziness, the nausea, the headaches…the horror!

Remedies for a hangover run the gamut, from pill popping to Gatorade guzzling, soup slurping to shrimp snacking.

Each works to varying degrees depending on who you ask.  But there’s a new food set to enter the “What to Do When You’ve had a Few” foray:  asparagus.

Could the humble spear be the next hangover helper?  Researchers from Jeju National University think so, and have indicated as such by publishing their study in the Journal of Science.

In their study – Effects of Asparagus Extracts on Liver Cell Toxicity and Ethanol Metabolism – the Korean researchers exposed liver cells to hydrogen peroxide, toxifying the cells in a manner that’s similar to alcohol toxifying the liver when it’s consumed as a beverage (alcohol is metabolized in the liver).  They then exposed the toxified liver cells to asparagus extracts found in both the spears themselves and the leaves on asparagus plants.

Impressively, the asparagus extracts detoxified the liver cells by 70 percent.  This “detoxifying” was demonstrated by the reduced amount of oxygen cell formation around the cells.  This is part of the metabolic process the liver goes through when alcohol is consumed.  The more alcohol there is, the greater the oxygen cell formation (the technical term for this is reactive oxygen species), and the harder the body has to work to rid itself of the alcohol.

Asparagus is something of a lone reed in the vegetable world, on par with Brussels sprouts.  Because of its unpopularity, its nutritional highlights often get passed over.  For instance, it rivals broccoli in vitamin K content (more than 100 percent of the recommended daily allowance in a cup), is loaded with vitamin C, and next to oranges, is the best available natural food source for folic acid.

Asparagus is also one of a select few vegetables that’s chock full of a protein called glutathione – one of the more talked about antioxidants in the health world today (it’s often referred to as “The Master Antioxidant”).  Glutathione is naturally produced in the body and is also a natural detoxifier.  While it has an array of roles in the body, its primary function is in the immune system (often referred to as “food for the immune system”).

So instead of chugging down glass after glass of water for a hangover, try chowing down on some fresh asparagus.  It could be just the trick to halting the next “brews cruise.”

Sources
youtube.com
whfoods.com
nutraingredients.com
ngm.nationalgeographic.com