Hangover Cure: Taking 2 Pills 12 Hours Before Drinking Can Stop One from Adverse Effect of Drinking Alcohol

Myrkl, a Swedish company, recently claimed it had developed a new pill breaking down the alcohol in the blood to stop the experience of a deadly hangover following a wild night out.

However, a Futurism report specified, on closer investigation, the ostentatious claims of the company begin to look a little suspect; not only is the study of the firm, on which it bases its claim, dubiously studied, but the pill could also take all the fun out of drinking alcohol, as well, in the first place. But that is if it is effective at all.

The purported cure for a hangover, advertised as the "pre-drinking pill that works," had just gone available for sale in the UK.

Nonetheless, as University of Plymouth clinical scientist and hepatologist Ashwin Dhanda points out in his report in The Conversation, there are some serious caveats to the company's claims.

2 Pills, 12 Hours Prior to Drinking Alcohol

Specifically, Myrkl claims if one takes two of its pills, 12 hours before drinking alcohol, it will prevent the occurrence of a hangover by absorbing up to 70 percent of the alcohol before it enters the bloodstream and subsequently dehydrates a person, which is a major cause of a hangover.

The pill uses two types of probiotics typically found in the health food aisle, also known as Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus coagulans, to break the alcohol down.

There's a single huge catch, though. As Dhanda reported in The Conversation, such a reduction "in the amount of alcohol absorbed by the body is mirrored by a reduction in the short-term impacts of alcohol like euphoria and reduced anxiety.

This means that the pill is claimed to be able to stop one from being drunk, which is the general point of consuming alcohol, to offer a hangover.

Drawbacks

Outside the mere fact that probiotic supplements are for sale already, under different labels in the United Kingdom, Dhanda noted that the single peer-reviewed research backing this alleged "cure" for hangovers also has issues.

Published in the Nutrition and Metabolic Insights journal, the study tracked levels of blood alcohol, following either active or placebo dosages of over 24 white adults as subjects.

However, just 14 of those results of the subjects were included in the research, as the other ten had lower blood alcohol levels at the onset of the study.

Rather unsurprisingly, results varied between individuals, reducing the study's accuracy, noted Dhanda.

In addition, both the dosing and timing were off as well, given that the researchers tested seven days of treatment before a single drink of alcoholic beverage, although the company recommended just two pills, one to 12 hours before drinking any amount of alcohol.

Hangover Cure

Unsurprisingly, "results varied between different people, which reduces the accuracy of the study," as Dhanda notes. Additionally, the timing and dosing were off, as " the researchers tested seven days of treatment before a single drink of alcohol, but the company recommends only two pills one to 12 hours before drinking any amount."

Such results leave some questions, from whether such outcomes were different in terms of gender, which the researchers did not indicate, how non-white people are responding to the probiotic cocktail, and, probably, most essentially, if people who have gastrointestinal problems can take given that a lot of those who suffer from GI problems are getting sick from probiotics.

This result is far from the pill claimed to be a hangover cure, and it certainly won't be the last. While taking probiotics is not generally a bad idea, the best way to prevent a hangover is to refrain from binge drinking or at least stay hydrated while drinking alcohol.

Related information about curing hangovers is shown on Seeker's YouTube video below:

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