End of year holidays: are “grandmother’s remedies” effective against hangovers?

Christmas dinner, New Year’s Eve: for many the holidays are an opportunity to eat with alcohol… followed by a headache the next day. According to a survey carried out in December 2023 by Opinionway for La Ligue contre le Cancer, 36% of French people believe that the presence of alcoholic beverages is an essential element to enjoy the end of year celebrations.

Excessive alcohol consumption is detrimental to long-term health, as it is a major risk factor for certain cancers and chronic diseases. In the short term, it translates into various ailments: fatigue, nausea, headache, diarrhea… In short, a hangover.

According to a fact sheet from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), a US government medical research organization, several factors contribute to a hangover: mild dehydration, but also sleep disorders, gastrointestinal irritation, and the inflammation in the body that it causes. the alcohol. To deal with these symptoms, some “grandmother’s remedies” promise immediate relief with natural methods.

“No magic potion”

You can see many of them on the Internet. Some suggest putting baking soda in a glass of water, others take charcoal (sprinkled or in capsules), cider vinegar, essential oils, ginger, etc.

But for the NIH, “although many remedies are mentioned on the Internet and on social networks to relieve hangovers, none have been scientifically proven effective.” “There is no magic potion to overcome a hangover and only time can help,” these research organizations state.

Drink in moderation and stay hydrated.

In 2021, researchers wanted to test the effectiveness of these “miracle cures.” In an article published in the journal Addiction, they reviewed the existing literature on this topic.

They observed that clove extract, tolfenamic acid (an anti-inflammatory), and pyritinol (the active form of vitamin B6) seemed to reduce hangover symptoms. But above all, the scientists stressed that these studies had limitations and that their conclusions should be explored further.

One of the authors, Emmert Roberts, told The Guardian that prevention is better than cure to avoid a hangover. “The most reasonable thing to do is to abstain from drinking alcohol or do so in moderation,” said the senior clinical professor of addiction psychiatry at the National Addiction Center at King’s College London.

The only tip that can help, he says, is to make sure you stay hydrated. However, “it is not a foolproof way to avoid a hangover,” he emphasized. Bottom line: To avoid a hangover, it’s best not to have one in the first place.