Is it true that when you drink beer and wine you''ll feel fine. But when you drink wine and beer you

Is it true that when you drink beer and wine you'll feel fine. But when you drink wine and beer you'll feel queer. If the answer is yes, why?

Mr Robertson, London

• There is no proof that mixing wine or beer has any effect on sexual preference, no matter in which order they are drunk. Sexual performance on the other hand...

  B George, London UK

• · The Americans say 'beer then liquor, never sicker - liquor then beer, never fear'. The explanation I heard for it was that if you start on shorts when you've already had a skinful of beer you'll drink more of them, and more quickly, because you'll already be drunk and your self-control will be reduced.

  Julian, Bristol UK

• Here's one possible explanation that can be applied to all sorts of drinking situations: at the bottom of the stomach is the pyloric sphincter muscle which regulates the flow of food and drink into the intestine. Normally this is closed, opening at regular intervals to allow food etc through. When you drink a fizzy drink the bubbles will form on the stomach lining similar to how they form on the side and bottom of a glass. These bubbles stimulate the pyloric sphincter muscle and cause it to open allowing food and drink into the intestine. The intestine has a much higher surface area to volume ratio than the stomach which allows much increased absorption of nutrients etc including alcohol. When you have been drinking wine this will sit in the stomach and is slowly released into the intestine. If you then drink a fizzy drink, such as beer, this opens the sphincter muscle and allows beer AND wine into the intestine. This cocktail is rapidly absorbed and everything goes a bit "queer". If you drink the beer first then the same thing happens except that the cocktail entering the intestine is just beer and therefore "all fine". Subsequent wine consumption will be absorbed more slowly since the sphincter would then be working normally. Incidentally, this is the same mechanism by which Champagne goes "straight to your head".

  Nick B, London UK

• Oddly enough, the German saying is the exact opposite: "Bier auf Wein, lass das sein; Wein auf Bier, das rat' ich dir", i.e. Beer after wine is to be avoided, wine after beer is advised. Personally I try not to mix them in any order!

  Andrew, Dublin Ireland

• I have always heard two, which are contradictory: "Liquor before beer, you;re in the clear," or "Beer before liquor, never been sicker," and the second dyad: "Beer before wine, you'll be fine," "Wine before beer, sick for a year." So, take from those what you will. The explanation that I have heard is that a carbonated alcohol hits your system faster (as does warmed alochol like hot cider and rum), so that after you already have alcohol in your system, you are not as able to determine the amount of alcohol consumed contrasted with tolerance since it effects you with unexpectedly a greater degree. Whether or not that is true, I cannot say: but that is the WV-lore than I know.

  Kevin, WV United States

• You can quite easily reverse the two rhymes. What is the truth? I find mixing beer types does me in just as much.

  James Todd, Reigate, UK

• I always thought it was nonsense; but, last night I had two glasses of wine, then two cocktails with rum, and finally a beer... over the course of 4 hours. Normally, this would be no big deal for me, but 30 minutes later my head was spinning to the point of feeling sick. The sciencey-carbonation answer would explain it. Now the better question is, how do you get rid of this banging hangover?

  John, Phoenix, US

• Just get drunk and stop moaning, life's to short people.

  Peter, Warrington lancs

• I find it best to start out with the drinks that have the highest alcohol content, and then work my way down. That would usually mean wine before beer. Personally, I never consume the two on the same night, no matter what the order. I will drink whiskey and then a couple beers afterward.

  Jerad, Columbia, SC USA

• I thought the advise was never to mix the grape with the grain

  Cath, Canterbury UK

• Interesting that the saying goes opposite in Hungarian: "sörre bor, jó gyomor, borra sör, meggyötör" but in line with the explanation given above by Nick B. That is, you can drink wine after beer, not the other way around. My rule is though different: drink in any order, but always put a layer of food in between.

  Zoltan, Antwerp Belgium