Influencers spruik hangover cures, but do they actually work?

Party-goers have been warned to be wary of the booming hangover “cure” industry, with influencers spruiking pills and pre-drinking powders during the party season.

Experts have questioned the usefulness of these purported hangover remedies, noting their claims are based on limited evidence, with very little known about what influences the severity and variety of one’s hangover.

Australian-owned Tend-2 pills purport to reduce hangover symptoms.Credit:Tend-2

Earlier this year, Melbourne-developed hangover pill Tend-2 entered the market, promising “TGA approved, science-backed” hangover relief to allow drinkers to “take control of [their] time and get back the freedom to develop a lifestyle that works for [them]” .

In November, the Swedish Myrkl pill, which claims to break down 70 per cent of alcohol consumed within an hour, also started shipping to Australia.

Associate Professor Nial Wheate, a pharmaceutical researcher at the University of Sydney, said Tend-2 contained a variety of vitamins and minerals, including B12, calcium and zinc, that could be useful if someone was experiencing a deficiency.

“But from the ingredients I’ve seen, I have no confidence that these pills would work to cure a hangover,” he said.

With hangovers mostly caused by dehydration, Wheate said a reduction in hangover symptoms when using Tend-2 while consuming alcohol could just be because users are advised to drink plenty of water throughout.

While the pills are listed by the Therapeutic Goods Administration, Wheate said it was important for consumers to know this is not an assessment of its efficacy.

“What they fail to tell consumers is it’s only been listed for the safety of the ingredients, that does not mean that it works,” Wheate said, expressing concern that Tend-2 markets itself as a “TGA approved” medicine.

A spokesperson from the TGA said it was investigating Tend-2 for its claim that it was “TGA approved”, as it was unlawful to suggest or imply a health product is endorsed by a government agency in an advertisement.

The spokesperson said listed medicines were only permitted to make low-level indications, and thus could not claim to prevent or cure any condition.

Although its website invites purchasers to “murder [their] hangover”, this masthead does not mean to suggest Tend-2 claims to cure hangovers.

Andrew Scholey, a professor of pharmacology and hangover researcher affiliated with Monash and Swinburne universities, also raised concern about Tend-2’s presentation of its product as scientifically backed.

“Its website is full of testimonies, but the plural of anecdote is not evidence,” he said.

Tend-2 did not respond to a request for comment.

Meanwhile, since being launched in Europe last year, Myrkl has been criticised for basing its claims to cure a hangover on a small clinical study (the pills were tested on 24 young, healthy adults) which tested the efficacy of the pills at breaking down a small amount of ethanol.

“The actual levels of alcohol consumed in the study were very low, people didn’t get above 0.05,” Scholey, who is on the scientific advisory board of a US company developing a hangover treatment, said.

“But more importantly, and this is made clear in the study, they didn’t actually test it for its impact on hangover symptoms.”

Scholey said, while there was emerging research demonstrating that people who clear alcohol more quickly get fewer hangovers, more work needed to be done in this space.

Experts disagree about the cause of physical symptoms of a hangover: some say the cause is the enzymes released by the liver to break down alcohol, while others say it is an immune system response, resulting in inflammation and creating a response similar to fighting off a virus. However, the morning-after headache is universally considered the result of dehydration (alcohol is a diuretic).

A 2021 review of more than 80 top-selling hangover products on Amazon – which did not include Myrkl or Tend-2 – co-authored by Scholey found none were supported by peer-reviewed human data demonstrating their efficacy.

“Quite often there is a difference between what the science finds and what marketers say,” Scholey said.

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