Dec. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Don't bother reaching for a milk shake or a slice of pizza after a night of drinking because they won't help a hangover. Nutritional supplements and nausea medications probably won't either, researchers said.
"No compelling evidence exists" that remedies touted on the Internet or in medical databases can treat or prevent morning-after symptoms, the scientists said in a study published in the British Medical Journal. "The most effective way to avoid the symptoms of hangover is to practice abstinence or moderation," they said.
Hangovers account for about 2 billion pounds ($3.48 billion) in lost wages every year in the U.K., mostly from people taking time off from work, researchers at universities of Exeter and Plymouth in the U.K. and at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands said. Increased alcohol consumption during the holidays may lead to a 0.4 percent rise in fatal alcohol poisonings for every 1 percent increase in the sale of spirits, they said.
The researchers, lead by Max Pittler, found "a plethora of hangover cures on offer," including morning-after alcohol drinks, cabbage, bananas and barley grass. They searched medical databases using the search terms 'hangover,' 'alcohol and hangover' and 'hangover and cure.' |