A team of Chinese scientists has suggested following tests on a number of drinks that Sprite might be a potential reliever of alcohol-related symptoms.

The effects of drinking excessive amounts of alcohol are well known, and if you have been in Budapest for one weekend you don’t need us to paint you a picture. Some of the adverse effects of alcohol are thought to be caused, not by the ethanol itself, but what the liver breaks alcohol down to, acetaldehyde.

Ethanol is metabolised into acetaldehyde and then into acetate. Unlike acetaldehyde, acetate is innocuous. Some drinks were found to markedly increase the rapid break-down of acetaldehyde and could minimise the harmful effects of drinking alcohol, including Sprite and soda water.