Confession: I am the last person to experience the woes of a holiday hangover. Why? Because I don’t consume alcohol. I like to indulge in every other aspect of the holiday season, including trimming the tree, family photos with Santa, baking & cooking, and exchanging gifts. Until the drinks are served, I’m all in.
As a registered pharmacist, my friends and family look to me as a health consultant. I have been asked by friends who can’t resist a few too many holiday cocktails about how to better relieve hangovers. The most sensible answer would be to simply cutt back! However, during the holidays, it’s common that we over-indulge so let's stick with the here and now. For most health issues, I can offer my loved ones an evidence-based and precise answer, but for hangover remedies, it's taken me a bit more digging and research.
For the purpose of getting a reliable and science-based answer, I normally start with Google scholar.com and will share with you some of my findings.
The first article I spotted is about “Treatment and Prevention of Alcohol Hangovers”, which goes onto say that “the scientific community lacks interest in examining hangover cures”. My friends won’t be very happy hearing that! However, further reading reveals that managing a hangover is related to “inhibitors of prostaglandin synthesis or accelerators of alcohol metabolism.” So this is a good place to start. (1).