Sold in French pharmacies, the drink claims to be able to neutralize the effects of alcohol and prevent hangovers.
If some have decided to do Dry January, others do not plan to deprive themselves of alcohol in January. Between festive dinners, drinks at the office to celebrate the New Year or other drunken evenings, hangovers quickly arrive! That said, a food supplement called Alcohol is supposed prevent the unpleasant effects of excess alcohol. Just drink it at the start of the evening or before consuming alcoholic beverages, without diluting it. According to the French company Nonna Lab which markets it at the price of 19 euros for 3 doses, Alcoool is “a 100% natural drink sold in thousands of pharmacies” who would have “97.8% efficiency” on hangovers with action in “10 minutes”. However, as reported by our colleagues atUFC-Que Choisirwhen we look at its composition, we can quickly be disappointed…
Unproven effectiveness on hangovers
You should consume “220 ml in the form of juice, or approximately 2 or 3 fruits” to observe benefits
The Nonna Lab site highlights a composition supposed to be optimal against hangovers: vitamins B, Cof the nacin which would help to reduce fatigue,pantothenic acid and magnesium which would strengthen intellectual performance, prickly pearof Asian Giseng, from taurine or even Milk thistle. But the main ingredient of this drink is Nashi pear which would boost the production of liver enzymes (those which allow the liver to metabolize alcohol). Although a scientific committee composed in particular of a Doctor of Pharmacy, expert in food supplements, seems to have been consulted by the manufacturer, “there is very little work on the effectiveness of this pear, and Nonna Lab did not take the trouble to verify its effectiveness by conducting a clinical trial. Difficult, therefore, to believe in real effectiveness“, deplores the UFC.
The benefits of Nashi pear on hangovers were indeed highlighted in 2015 by Australian researchers from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIRO): “certain compounds in Nashi pear act on two enzymes involved in alcohol metabolism“, they explain. But according to them, we should consume “220 ml in the form of juice, or approximately 2 or 3 fruits” to observe benefits. However, a bottle of Alcohol from 100ml contains only 3.4 g of Nashi pear, therefore not enough to have a significant effect. According to the manufacturer of Alcoool, “This product will not be able to completely cure you after your drunken evening. It will help your liver drain and eliminate toxins. This food supplement does not affect your alcohol level in any way.“. Its employment would present a risk to people under anticoagulants, under antibiotics, in case of liver disease or kidney problems.
A product that trivializes excess alcohol
Beyond the doubts about its effectiveness, the existence of an “anti-hangover” drink is problematic. on a social and health level because it carries a falsely reassuring messageencouraging “abuse alcohol instead of controlling your consumption”, underlines Dr Géraldine Talbot, addictologist and member of the Addiction Federation, contacted by the UFC. Also, the fact that it is sold in pharmacies can mislead the consumer and unconsciously make him believe that it is a medicine.
Best: one to two glasses of water between each glass of alcohol
Rather than ingesting a product before a drinking evening, it is recommended to drink one to two glasses of water between each glass of alcohol to stay well hydrated (because alcohol is a substance that dehydrates), not to drink alcohol on an empty stomach and to favor highly mineralized waters such as Vichy©, Hépar© or Courmayeur© to make up for the loss of minerals. Obviously, moderate consumption of alcohol or even total abstinence remains the best prevention, health professionals agree. As a reminder, in France, it is estimated 41,000 the number of deaths attributable to alcohol including 30,000 deaths among men and 11,000 among women. Alcohol can cause irreversible damage on the development of certain parts of the brain, maturing until the age of 25. Early introduction to alcohol increases the risk of addiction in adulthood.