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Tiit Land, the rector of Tallinn University and a biochemist explains where hangovers come from.

„In general, the exact mechanics of a hangover (the physical and psychological phenomena that result from overconsuming alcohol) are not known yet, but we have clarified many factors that benefit to these phenomena,” admitted Tiit Land.

“One of the main cause of hangovers is the ethanal or acetic aldehyde, a toxic substance to human beings, which is generated within the organism during the process of ethanol oxidation. The human organism dissolves ethanol in two stages: at first, it becomes ethanal and then acetate (acetic acid), which is excreted by the organism,” explains Land. “The second stage takes time and if there is a lot of alcohol in the organism, large quantities of ethanal will pile up and create symptoms of poisoning (the hangover).”

Land admits this is a very general and simplified way of looking at it.

“In addition to ethanal, another factor in the making of a hangover are the failures of signal transfer mechanics between cells as well as in the metabolism of glucose, amino acids and fat. At the same time many other hormones (including insulin) work improperly,” he explained. “It is important to mark that ethanal is 10-30 times more toxic to human beings than ethanol itself. This is the main reason we do not get a hangover instantly after consuming ethanol.”

Tiit Land received his doctorate degree from the Stockholm University in neurochemistry and neurotoxicology. He worked for five years at the National Institutes of Health in the USA as a postdoc and researchers, as well as seven years at the Stockholm University as a researcher and lecturer at the department of neurochemistry. In 2007, he was elected as a professor of chemistry at Tallinn University and in 2008-2011, he was the director of the Tallinn University Institute of Mathematics and Natural Sciences. His main research fields are biochemistry, neurochemistry and biotechnology; he has also supervised four doctoral dissertations.

As an internationally acclaimed biochemist, Tiit Land has left his mark in the research of ferrum contents in the human body – for example, research on ferrum is helping to find cures for the Alzheimer disease. Tracey Rouault, chief of the iron metabolism laboratory at the National Institutes of Health, the leading laboratory in this field, has admitted that Tiit Land’s discoveries as a postdoc have given this research a new direction, which had not even been thought about before.