Downing Flaming Sambuca shots at last call may seem like a good idea at the time, but when the sun comes up, your body won’t thank you. A new wave of additional drinks has promise to combat this, however, and lighten the burden of the dreaded hangover. Just as it’s starting to look like Christmas, WIRED is taking the opportunity to update our anti-hangover additions. Since we first tried this product that claims to ease your headache when you have too many, we’ve discovered many new products to try. Aimed at reducing the effects of excessive food and alcohol at night, the supplement includes ingredients allegedly designed to break down alcohol in the gut before it reaches the liver or boost the body’s defenses with essential vitamins and minerals. In one, so the claims go, this can help to eliminate (or at least drastically reduce) headaches, upset stomach, and nausea post-partying. When a small independent study has been conducted to test the validity of this supplement, the evidence is the same. work as a prevention of intoxication is an area that needs to be satisfactorily explored. However, this does not stop brands from launching these supplements that enter the “one too many” market. “The active ingredients in this popular pill include the amino acid L-cysteine, vitamin B12, and two probiotics, or healthy bacteria, Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus coagulans.” Because it is classified as a supplement and not a medicine, the studies to support its efficacy are limited, “says Auerbach. “There is a risk that people will use these pills as an excuse to consume more alcohol during a sitting and not suffer the consequences, which leads to get drunk Eating a nutritious, well-balanced meal before drinking will best support your body in dealing with the toxic effects of alcohol, however. While there are no miracle foods, eating a balanced diet of protein, healthy fats, and complex carbohydrates will reduce the rate at which alcohol is absorbed by the body, reducing its negative effects.” with a crate of beer in one hand and a box of anti-hangover supplements in the other—we’re back to Wimborne Rugby Football Club where the annual Christmas party night is in full swing. In the true spirit of the (unscientific) test, we once again asked some of the boys at the party to try out some of the latest anti-hangover supplements and report back their findings—we want to know if he feels bad in the morning or if additionally has a project in lightening any negative effects of alcohol the night before. Keen to know more about the ingredients inside each supplement and how effective they can be, we also asked Tim Gray, the UK’s leading biohacker and founder of the Health Optimization Summit, for feedback on each product “To prevent a hangover, the best thing to do is avoid alcohol altogether, but if you do drink, it’s important to remember that dehydration is the number one cause of a hangover,” says Gray. “Taking supplements is great for supporting your liver, but if you’re not properly hydrated and drinking alcohol, you’re going to get drunk. So the best way is to choose your alcohol wisely, stay hydrated, and take supplements to reduce the burden on your liver.” WIRED’s Anti-Drunken Pill Experiment We wanted to see if we could figure out the beneficial effects of this miracle pill. And the only clear way is to test them in real situations. We tagged along in Wimborne’s Christmas party night out and plied willing volunteers with a choice of various booze-busting options, keen to see if they could, in fact, minimize the effects of a night of excessive food and drink. We included some of “anti-hangover” addition in our admittedly unscientific experiment, and asked members of the rugby team to each give one another a try. Without lab equipment, we tried to be fair and chose eight players from the team who all considered themselves to have the same drinking tolerance.
