Heavy drinking can bring serious problems. And not the 'I-got-drunk-last-night' kind of drinking, but the 'I-got-drunk-every-week-this-month' kind of drinking. It can cause long-term damage to the mucous membrane of your stomach that can give rise to all manner of gastrointestinal disorders, including ulcers, colorectal cancer, and inflammatory bowel disease. Not cool.
Now a European team has found that strawberries, or more accurately the anthocyanins and antioxidants found in strawberries, can help mitigate these effects and even improve treatment of stomach ulcers.
Sara Tulipani, University of Barcelona researcher and co-author of the study, explains that "the positive effects of strawberries are not only linked to their antioxidant capacity and high content of phenolic compounds, but also to the fact that they activate the antioxidant defenses and enzymes of the body."
TC;DR: Gastrointestinal diseases like stomach ulcers caused by heavy drinking are caused by 'free radical' atoms and molecules that are highly unstable and cause chain reactions in trying to gain stability. That's why the damage accumulates over time. Antioxidants in strawberries activate the 'defense systems' of the body, and reduce the production of these free radicals in the first place.
Life lesson here: If you plan on doing some heavy drinking during the holidays, minimise damage by loading up with strawberries in the days beforehand. It won't stop the damage, but it'll help reduce it.
via i09, while the original research paper can be found here.