Plant cocktail helps against the hangover

Less headache and nausea after alcohol consumption thanks to a mixture of plant extracts

11-May-2020 - Germany

A mixture of plant extracts effectively helps against symptoms caused by excessive alcohol consumption, which usually show up as a hangover the next day. This is the result of a study conducted by Prof. Dr. Bernhard Lieb and Patrick Schmitt of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU). According to the study, a cocktail of plants consisting of fruits, leaves and roots, provided with minerals and vitamins, is effective against the most common hangover symptoms such as headaches and nausea. Minerals and vitamins alone had no beneficial effect. "Our results show that intervention against hangover symptoms also has clinical significance," said Patrick Schmitt. The study involved 214 volunteers aged between 18 and 65 years. It is the largest study in this field to date and was conducted according to the highest scientific standards.

Plant combo of acerola, prickly pear, ginkgo, willow and ginger tested

The biologists wanted to find out whether hangover symptoms, which occur after moderate alcohol consumption, are weaker after intensive water intake and the intake of antioxidative food supplements and plant extracts. Schmitt developed a formulation consisting of different plant substances based on 600 publications in specialist journals. These include acerola cherry, prickly pear, ginkgo, silver willow and ginger root, which were combined with minerals and vitamins for the test. A placebo and a mixture consisting only of minerals and vitamins were used for comparison. The average alcohol consumption of the test participants in the experiment was around 1.6 grams of alcohol per kilogram of body weight. At a weight of 60 kilograms, this corresponds to about 2.5 litres of beer.

Hangover symptoms are milder

The test persons could choose whether they wanted to drink beer, cyclists, white wine or white wine spritzer. Before and after drinking alcohol, they were each given a ready-made drink of the plant mixture, the mineral-vitamin mixture or the placebo. As it turned out, the test participants who received the plant cocktail made the best ends meet: Compared to the placebo group, the intensity of headaches was 34 percent lower and nausea was reduced by 42 percent, indifference or apathy was 27 percent weaker and restlessness was 41 percent less than in the placebo group. In total, the study recorded 47 symptoms ranging from thirst to tinnitus and light sensitivity to impulsiveness.

The control group, which only received minerals and vitamins without the plant extract, fared roughly the same as the placebo group, i.e. they did not experience any positive effects. "We can therefore clearly see that the plant extracts interact with the degradation of alcohol in the body and thus help to prevent or treat hangovers or alleviate the problems," summarised Schmitt. "According to current knowledge, the plant extract mixture is the only scientifically proven way to intervene against hangover symptoms."

Alcohol consumption does not lead to dehydration

Schmitt, who carried out the study as part of his master's thesis at JGU and is now doing his doctorate on natural substances from plants against antibiotic-resistant germs, points to another result: a loss of fluid as a result of alcohol consumption is de facto not detectable. "This is a myth from the 1950s. In fact, dehydration due to alcohol does not occur." The study had compared fluid intake and urine excretion. For the future, the biologist could envisage further investigations to filter out a single active substance from the various plant substances, which is mainly responsible for the positive effects against hangover symptoms. "Then it might also be possible to produce a drug from a substance," said Schmitt.

Note: This article has been translated using a computer system without human intervention. LUMITOS offers these automatic translations to present a wider range of current news. Since this article has been translated with automatic translation, it is possible that it contains errors in vocabulary, syntax or grammar. The original article in German can be found here.

Original publication

B. Lieb, P. Schmitt, Randomised double-blind placebo-controlled intervention study on the nutritional efficacy of a food for special medical purposes (FSMP) and a dietary supplement in reducing the symptoms of veisalgia, BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health, 30. April 2020,

https://www.yumda.com/en/news/1166181/plant-cocktail-helps-against-the-hangover.html