Chris Shanahan: Hydrating beer no cure for hangovers

We were once told we could avoid dehydration and hangovers if we followed every alcoholic drink with a glass of water. It didn’t work. Nor did any of the other folk remedies, or even Berocca tablets when they became popular in the eighties.

So we read recent reports of a hydrating beer with scepticism. Researchers, led by Griffith University’s associate professor Ben Desbrow, added electrolytes to two commercial beers, one regular strength, the other low alcohol. They found low-alcohol beer with electrolytes hydrated drinkers one third better than a normal beer.

Desbrow commented that the findings might result in beer that reduced one of the risks of unsafe drinking – dehydration. Some commentators drew a connection between hydration, or lack of it, and hangovers.

This raised hopes of a hangover-free beer. But if ever there is one, it’ll be available exclusively from the tooth fairy.