Can Those Viral Supplements Actually Prevent a Hangover?

One thing we love about New Year’s Eve: champagne. One thing we hate about New Year’s Eve: how it feels the next morning after we drink too much champagne. Nobody wants a hangover, and avoiding one can sometimes be a matter of simple habits, such as making sure you eat enough beforehand and limiting how much you drink.

That said, we all know how things can go when you’re in a festive mood — one glass might turn into a few. With this in mind, some revelers are opting to hack their hangovers by taking supplements to avoid the ordeal altogether. You might have seen them scrolling on social media: Products including Z-Biotic’s Pre-Alcohol Probiotic Drink or More Labs’s Morning Recovery promise to make the aftermath of a night of drinking more tolerable. These supplements claim to pack your body with electrolytes or probiotics that counteract or break down the chemicals that cause hangovers before you even start drinking.

But do they work? First, let’s get into why you feel so crappy after drinking. “The main reason [hangovers happen] is that alcohol is dehydrating, and when your body is dehydrated, your brain and blood vessels can temporarily shrink from fluid loss, causing your brain to actually pull away from your skull. This scary-sounding scenario is what's causing your morning-after headache,” dietitian Brooke Alpert, M.S., R.D., CDN, explains. She works with Cure, a brand that creates drink mixes with electrolyte- and energy-replenishing ingredients. “Fluid loss is already amplified when you drink, because alcohol is a diuretic, so it's really a perfect storm.”

Since loss of electrolytes is a huge culprit behind hangovers, many of these products include them. People often drink things such as Pedialyte or Gatorade after a night of drinking because they’re rich in electrolytes and can help make you feel better. Hangover supplements, on the other hand, are meant to be taken before you drink “to front-load your body with the electrolytes it needs to prevent some of the other unpleasant hangover side effects, like headaches and brain fog,” Alpert says. “Drinking plain water isn't really helpful, because it just flushes the electrolytes, vitamins, and minerals out of your system.”

So, yes, these supplements can be helpful, but the ingredients in each vary greatly. As the FDA warned in 2020, there’s limited research into whether any on the market will actually make you feel great post-drinking. There’s also the concern that people will think they can drink more because they are taking the supplement. “Consumers may get the false impression that using these products can prevent or mitigate health problems caused by excessive drinking,” Steven Tave, director of the FDA's Office of Dietary Supplement Programs, said in a news release. “Dietary supplements are not a substitute for responsibly limiting one’s alcohol consumption.”

If you want to try a hangover supplement, be sure to check the ingredients first and maybe even run them by your doctor.  But if you want to fully guarantee a hangover-free night, it’s probably best to limit your drinking.