Booze blues?

Most of us have woken up at one time or another with a throbbing head, wobbly limbs and the room in a spin.They're the classic hangover symptoms, triggered by over-indulging in alcohol. Hangovers invariably strike the morning after the night before - and, since the Christmas and New Year party season is in full swing, a lot of us will fall prey to them in the next few weeks.

It's nature's way of telling us that downing three pints of beer, a couple of champagne cocktails and far too much red wine is damaging to our health.

Clearly, the best way of never suffering is not to drink to excess in the first place.

But when you are in the grip of the mother of all hangovers what you do not need is a lecture. What you want is relief - and fast - in the form of an all-powerful hangover cure.

Unfortunately, there is no one magical cure. A report by New Scientist magazine suggests the lack of research may even be deliberate because: "In the eyes of most governments, doctors and industries, a hangover cure would trigger a catastrophic upsurge in alcohol abuse, tempting mild drinkers to overindulge."

But researchers at the publication did persuade a panel of 12 volunteers to drink too much on four successive weekends to find out if some age-old 'cures' really do work.

First they tried water, which is thought to help because many hangover symptoms are caused by dehydration.

The theory is that alcohol is a diuretic, which leads to drinkers expelling more water than they consume. To beat the resulting drought, water is borrowed from other parts of the body including the brain, which shrinks temporarily - leading to those raging hangover headaches. But does it work?

Drinking lots of water during the party and before going to bed can certainly help avoid a hangover - but the researchers found it was little help in relieving symptoms the next day. One researcher described the water hangover cure as "a waste of space".

Next they tried sports drinks - working on the theory that alcohol depletes our stores of sugar, leading to hypoglycaemia and those wobbly feelings.

Although many people swear that a sugar boost does help and like to cradle a bottle of lemonade in their sick bed, the researchers were divided on whether these drinks really help.

The team also experimented with the hair of the dog - or drinking a little more alcohol in the morning. This 'cure' is thought by some scientists to work because the liver flushes out ethanol first but when it gets to tackling methanol - a simpler cousin of ethanol in the alcohol family - a by-product called formic acid is produced which may cause some of the most evil hangover symptoms of all.

Having another drink, the theory goes, makes the liver switch back to dealing with ethanol, easing the pain. The bad news is the relief is temporary - and, of course, drinking with a hangover could set some on the slippery path to alcoholism. A cure much better avoided.

Finally, there are eggs - another favourite 'cure' be it in the form of a fried breakfast, omelettes or a 'prairie oyster', a drink containing an egg yolk.

It's thought eggs may indeed help because they are rich in an amino acid called cysteine which helps mop up destructive chemicals which build up in the liver as alcohol is broken down.

However, as anyone who has ever suffered a grade-one hangover knows, eating eggs or even swallowing liquid is not always easy.

So the best way to deal with a hangover, is seems, is probably just to stay in bed and groan - and try to remember the feeling the next time you're propping up the bar.

There is, of course, one way to avoid feeling like a stuffed turkey yourself this Christmas - and that's to avoid overdosing on mince pies, Christmas pud, turkey with all the trimmings and all those 101 other edible delights the festive season throws in your way. But who takes sensible advice at Christmas?

Bearing that in mind, our resident nutritionist Dr Damien Downing gives some sensible advice on this page on how to avoid the worst effects of gastronomic overindulgence this festive season.

But if you do want to do something really different this year - and improve your family's health into the bargain - why not try an alternative, low-fat Christmas dinner for a change?

Slimming World has loads of ideas for healthy festive fare. Angela Wrigglesworth, their team developer for York and Tadcaster, says: "You can still eat, drink and be merry at Christmas without piling on the pounds. It's all about making the right choice of what to eat. Food doesn't have to be fattening to be delicious."

You can still treat yourself to a traditional turkey Christmas without ruining your weight, Angela says. Just eat in moderation - a couple of slices of turkey instead of half the bird - and 'dry roast' potatoes rather than drowning them in oil to cook.

But if you want to be really different this year here, thanks to Slimming World, below is a recipe for a cracking Christmas dinner that won't pile on the calories.

It will still be worth going for a little constitutional afterwards, though, instead of slumping in front of the TV set.

A little fresh air and exercise never hurt anyone.