If it’s likely you’ll spend New Year’s Day with your head in a sling, listen up.
Scientists have discovered that there might be a way to reduce hangover symptoms - and it all lies in what you drink the night before.
German researchers found that beer can reduce the harm done to the liver, while other types of alcohol - such as spirits - do not.
Experts believe it is the hops, an ingredient found in most beer, which contains the hangover-busting properties.
In fact it’s even been associated with lower levels of nitric oxide synthases, linked to those woeful post-party headaches.
Dr Ina Bergheim, a nutritional scientist at Friedrich Schiller University in Jena, Germany, said the results show that “drinking fermented alcoholic beverages like beer may be less harmful than hard spirits”.
“Our data suggests that hops in beer might contribute to this effect of beer,” she added, according to the Mail Online.
For the study, published in the journal Alcohol and Alcoholism, researchers gave mice three types of alcohol: beer brewed without hops, beer containing hops and pure alcohol.
Two hours later, researchers analysed the impact each drink had on the test subjects’ livers, small intestines and blood. They then repeated this process 12 hours later.
Mice who were given beer with hops had less build-up of fat in their liver, as well as less inflammation, than the mice given pure alcohol or beer without hops.
They also had lower levels of nitric oxide synthases, the molecules associated with headaches.
While drinking beer containing hops can’t prevent hangovers entirely, researchers believe it can help lessen symptoms and reduce some of the damage alcohol does to the body.
Hops, which derives from a plant bud, is typically used to balance the flavours in beer.
A previous study suggested that it could help the fight against cancer, as it contains vital molecules with anti-bacterial and anti-cancer properties.