Who wouldn’t want to avoid a hangover after a night of alcohol? You may have heard ads on podcasts or have seen them on social networks: a relatively new class of products claims to allow you to enjoy your evening, without suffering from wood rant symptoms the next day-that is to say if you swallow the products before or after the soaking.
Different products contain different ingredients. These may include electrolytes, antioxidants, probiotics, certain vitamins, minerals or other nutrients – in the form of powders, capsules or drinks – which companies assert the effects of alcohol on your body.
For example, Zbiotic’s pre-alcohol’s probiotic drink claims to help your body decompose acetaldehyde, a by-product of alcohol metabolism. Myrkl contains prebiotics, probiotics, C-cystine and vitamin B12 with amino acid to help your body process and reduce fatigue after consumption. The pre-gaming capsulyte contains dihydromyritine (DHM), a flavonoid found in many plants, as well as thistle thistle extract, polyphenols and N-acetyl cysteine (NAC), a pioneer of antioxidant glutathion, to help reduce the effects of alcohol on your body. And the recovery of the Waterboy weekend and the dripdrop electrolyte powder packets contain electrolytes (such as potassium, magnesium and sodium) to help you stay hydrated.
The testimonies concerning their advantages are abundant, but scientific evidence supporting their alleged advantages are rare. “The effectiveness of efficiency is the controlled and double blind clinical trial – none of them has this level of evidence,” explains Dr. Robert Swift, professor of psychiatry and human behavior and public health at Brown University who has conducted clinical and laboratory research on the pharmacological treatment of alcohol and mistreatment and dependence and dependence. Some of these products target dehydration, but that does not necessarily mean that they are effective in preventing wooden mouth, adds Swift.
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A small study of 2022, which was funded by the parent company of Myrkl, Defaire MEDICAL AB, revealed that after 24 people took the supplements twice a day for a week, less alcohol was absorbed by their bodies after drinking, causing a 70% reduction in the blood alcohol level when they had a drink. However, there was no difference in a cognitive function test among the people who did the supplement or not before drinking alcohol – and the study did not specifically address the symptoms of the wooden mouth.
In a magazine in 2022 of 21 randomized randomized trials controlled by placebo which tested a wide strip of prevention ingredients for the alleged wooden mouth, the researchers concluded that “only very low efficiency evidence is available to recommend any pharmacologically active intervention for the treatment or prevention of the mouth induced by alcohol.”
What causes the mouth of wood-and can these products really do something about it?
The hangover is generally caused by a combination of several factors. On the one hand, drinking alcohol can cause dehydration, as well as electrolytic imbalances. “Alcohol is a diuretics, so it makes you urinate more,” said Dr. Michael Weaver, medical director of the Center for Neurobehavioral Research on Addiction to Uthealth Houston.
In addition, “alcohol is very pro-inflammatory,” says Swift. This is due in part to the fact that “alcohol makes the intestines fleeing – bacteria in the intestines that produce inflammation can enter the blood circulation and cause inflammation” throughout the body. Inflammation contributes to the symptoms of the hangover such as fatigue and headache.
Alcohol consumption can also disrupt your sleep, which can exacerbate all of these symptoms. And as the liver breaks down alcohol, a sub-product called acetaldehyde is produced; At high levels, acetaldehyde can cause inflammation as well as nausea, vomiting, headache and other symptoms of the hangover, says Swift.
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Some of the pre-alcohols tackle one or more of these various problems. But “most of them are fluids and electrolytes – they provide a more sophisticated way of doing what people should do anyway, which remains hydrated,” said Weaver.
The idea behind the inclusion of probiotics in some of these products is that, theoretically, the interference of bacteria containing enzymes which destroy acetaldehyde in the stomach can help prevent the symptoms of the hangover. But even if these probiotics could get rid of acetaldehyde in the stomach, “you also have it in the liver and the brain,” notes Swift.
Regarding other ingredients, B vitamins can help people metabolize alcohol, allowing them to “get rid of it a little more quickly,” says Swift. And DHM and flavones have an anti-inflammatory activity, which could be useful for treating headache and other inflammatory symptoms.
But, once again, existing studies have not proven in a robust manner that the formulations on the market effectively fight wooden mouths.
The bottom line
Although the jury is always on the question of whether these pre -Alcohol products can really prevent a hangover, there are other concerns related to the way they could affect someone’s consumption habits. “For some people, a hangover can provide a natural organic deterrence for excessive alcohol consumption,” says Swift. Even if they have worked as announced – and quick doubts as they do – “eliminate this biological check might not be good for you,” he said.
Indeed, there is a certain concern that the regular use of these types of products, widely, could inadvertently promote excessive alcohol consumption: a study published in 2023 in the journal Alcohol and alcoholism have found that young adults who use over -the -counter wood raising remedies – which include a wide range of supplements – tend to have more problematic consumption models such as excessive alcohol consumption.
“The best way to avoid a hangover is not to drink alcohol,” says Weaver. The second best way? “If you want to drink, don’t just Drink alcohol – Make other things in addition to alcohol, such as water or unwelling drinks, and alternate alcoholic drinks with non -alcoholic drinks. »»
To avoid a hangover, it is also intelligent to slow down the absorption of alcohol by your body by eating a substantial meal or snack before drinking. In other words, says Weaver, taking care of the advice you know long before products like these hit the market: “Do not drink empty stomach.”
