Can strong tea sober you up? Indeed, this has been a common belief for many years. Tea has a diuretic effect, which can accelerate the excretion of alcohol. However, people only focus on its sobering effects while ignoring the dangers of drinking tea after alcohol. In fact, strong tea not only fails to sober you up but has the opposite effect.
Why is this? Because alcohol is already a significant stimulant to the cardiovascular system, and strong tea also has a stimulating effect on the heart. When combined, the two work in tandem, further accelerating the heart rate and thus increasing the burden on the heart. From a medical perspective, after alcohol is absorbed by the digestive tract, over 90% of it is converted by the liver's dehydrogenase into acetaldehyde, which is then broken down into carbon dioxide and water and excreted from the body.
When you drink tea after consuming alcohol, the theophylline in the tea quickly produces a diuretic effect through the kidneys. This causes the acetaldehyde, which has not yet been broken down after the alcohol was converted, to be excreted by the kidneys. Since acetaldehyde is highly irritating to the kidneys, this can cause damage to them.
In conclusion, excessive drinking is the source of countless harms. We advise you to drink less. If you do get drunk, it is not advisable to use tea to sober up; instead, you can drink a small amount of vinegar.