5 tried and tested hangover cures from around the world

The new year is a time for fresh starts, or at least good intentions. Sometimes January 1 (and several of the days that follow) can be less productive than planned because of overindulgence leading to hangovers.

Mankind all over the globe has grappled with the morning-after effects of booze since our ancestors first gobbled up that overripe fruit that made them feel so good – and then woke up feeling like prehistoric garbage.

These days, it’s easy to be overwhelmed by the number of high-tech products that claim to cure or prevent the dreaded hangover. There are patches, pills and little bottles of elixirs to swig. Plus unpronounceable ingredients and marketing that uses the lingo of both start-up culture and the commercial “wellness” cult: “Win the morning!”

With so much slickly packaged snake oil around, perhaps this holiday season it’s better to stick to the time-tested remedies that people have been serving up for centuries, all around the world, to comfort their pounding heads and cotton-swaddled tongues. And perhaps we’ll learn a little lesson that’s timely to the beginning of a new year: you know, we really are all in this together.

Irn-Bru

Scots have long claimed that their rust-hued soda, introduced in 1909, has magical hangover-curing powers. Dubbed “Scotland’s other national drink” (second only to the whiskey that might have caused said sad state), it’s been the subject of controversy. Originally called “Iron Brew,” it rebranded in the 1940s, and in 2018 it reformulated with a less-sweet formula to skirt a sugar tax, a move that drew outcry from fans of the original.