Chinese people value discussing business over the dinner table, with toasts flowing freely. It's almost inevitable to have one too many drinks after a meal. Folk wisdom suggests that drinking tea, especially strong tea, can sober you up. But is there any scientific basis for this?
Some experts explain that drinking large amounts of tea can increase urination, which helps expel some alcohol from the body and can alleviate alcohol poisoning. Furthermore, tea can help clear the mind, creating a sobering effect. In reality, however, drinking strong tea not only fails to sober you up but can also cause adverse physical reactions.
Alcohol contains ethanol, which is a significant stimulant to the cardiovascular system. After drinking, ethanol enters the body and acts as an excitant on the nervous system, leading to an increased heart rate, dilated blood vessels, and accelerated blood flow. This effect is particularly pronounced when a person is drunk, intensifying the stimulation and turning it into a detrimental one. The theophylline and caffeine in tea also have a heart-stimulating effect. Drinking strong tea to sober up after being intoxicated is like adding fuel to the fire for the heart. It accelerates the heartbeat, increases the burden on the heart, and produces the opposite of a healthy effect.
Additionally, it's important to note that drinking large amounts of strong tea after being drunk is also harmful to the kidneys. This is because the vast majority of alcohol in the body is converted into acetaldehyde in the liver, then into acetic acid, which is further broken down into carbon dioxide and water before being excreted through the kidneys. The theophylline in strong tea has a rapid diuretic effect, which can cause unmetabolized acetaldehyde to enter the kidneys prematurely, thereby causing damage to kidney function.