What Is a Hangover?
According to the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, a hangover refers to a set of symptoms that occur as a consequence of drinking too much. Typical symptoms include fatigue, weakness, thirst, headache, muscle aches, nausea, stomach pain, vertigo, sensitivity to light and sound, anxiety, irritability, sweating, and increased blood pressure. A hangover can vary from person to person.
Alcohol is the main culprit in a hangover, but other components of alcoholic beverages might contribute to hangover symptoms or make a hangover worse.
Dehydration is one of the main causes of hangover symptoms. A hangover can leave you struggling to concentrate, feeling irritable, and sensitive to light – not a good combination if you were planning to make the most of the day and not spend it in bed. Hangover symptoms peak when the blood alcohol concentration in the body returns to about zero. The symptoms can last 24 hours or longer.
What is Berocca?
Berocca is a multivitamin supplement that consists of B vitamins, vitamin C plus added magnesium, calcium, and zinc. When first released in 1969, Berocca came in one flavor, Berry, which later became Original Berry. It now comes in four flavors: Original Berry, Orange, Blackcurrant, and Mango & Orange.
Berocca is used to treat or prevent vitamin deficiency due to poor diet, certain illnesses, or during pregnancy. Vitamins are important building blocks of the body and help keep you in good health. Berocca’s effervescent tablets contain small quantities of aspartame (phenylalanine).
Is Berocca good for hangovers?
Yes, Berocca can help you rehydrate and lessen hangover symptoms triggered by dehydration. Alcohol both interferes with the absorption of B vitamins and depletes them from your system.
Berocca contains an array of B vitamins, including Thiamin (B1), Riboflavin (B2), Niacin (B3), Pantothenic Acid (B5), Vitamin B6, and Vitamin B12 which can restore deleted stores. Heavy drinkers often need vitamin B 1, vitamin B 3, and similar complex vitamin Bs and folacin, along with zinc and magnesium.
A study recently published in The Journal of Clinical Medicine evaluated the diets for 24 hours before and after excessive drinking occurred. It was a small study and the results were based on the participants saying what they ate. However, they did find that people whose food and beverage consumption contained greater amounts of zinc and B vitamins had less severe hangovers.
However, a 2005 study published in the medical journal BMJ concluded that “No compelling evidence exists to suggest that any conventional or complementary intervention is effective for preventing or treating alcohol hangover.” A more recent 2010 study came to the same conclusion.
What helps with a hangover?
Dr. Robert Swift, a researcher at the Providence Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Rhode Island, co-authored one of the few review papers on hangovers in 1998. It’s still one of the most frequently cited sources on the topic. The rundown on hangover remedies that follows is based on that review, an interview with Dr. Swift, and several other sources.
1. Hair of the dog. Drinking to ease the symptoms of a hangover is sometimes called taking the hair of the dog, or hair of the dog that bit you. The notion is that hangovers are a form of alcohol withdrawal, so a drink or two will ease the withdrawal.
There may be something to it, says Dr. Swift. Both alcohol and certain sedatives, such as benzodiazepines like diazepam (Valium), interact with GABA receptors on brain cells, he explains. And it’s well documented that some people have withdrawal symptoms from short-acting sedatives as they wear off. Perhaps the brain reacts similarly as blood alcohol levels begin to drop.
Even so, Dr. Swift advises against using alcohol as a hangover remedy. “The hair of the dog just perpetuates a cycle,” he says. “It doesn’t allow you to recover.”
2. Drink fluids. Alcohol promotes urination because it inhibits the release of vasopressin, a hormone that decreases the volume of urine made by the kidneys. If your hangover includes diarrhea, sweating, or vomiting, you may be even more dehydrated. Although nausea can make it difficult to get anything down, even just a few sips of water might help your hangover.
3. Get some carbohydrates into your system. Drinking may lower blood sugar levels, so theoretically some of the fatigue and headaches of a hangover may be from a brain working without enough of its main fuel. Moreover, many people forget to eat when they drink, further lowering their blood sugar. Toast and juice are a way to gently nudge levels back to normal.
4. Avoid darker-colored alcoholic beverages. Experiments have shown that clear liquors, such as vodka and gin, tend to cause hangovers less frequently than dark ones, such as whiskey, red wine, and tequila. The main form of alcohol in alcoholic beverages is ethanol, but the darker liquors contain chemically related compounds (congeners), including methanol. According to Dr. Swift’s review paper, the same enzymes process ethanol and methanol, but methanol metabolites are especially toxic, so they may cause a worse hangover.
5. Take a pain reliever, but not Tylenol. Aspirin, ibuprofen (Motrin, other brands), and other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) may help with the headache and the overall achy feelings. NSAIDs, though, may irritate a stomach already irritated by alcohol. Don’t take acetaminophen (Tylenol). If alcohol is lingering in your system, it may accentuate acetaminophen’s toxic effects on the liver.
6. Drink coffee or tea. Caffeine may not have any special anti-hangover powers, but as a stimulant, it could help with grogginess.
