“anti-hangover” food supplements, miracle cocktail or risky offer?

Arriving on the shelves of French pharmacies almost two years ago, these products promise a better day after the holidays. An offer that worries scientists and addictologists. They express their reservations about these “miracle pills” with dangerous promises.

Drink alcohol and party without worrying about the hangover the next day. This is the promise made by several brands of food supplements that have arrived on the French market for almost two years. “Hang-over” (hangover, in French), “Myrkl” (pronounced miracle, in English), “Hydratis” or even “Alcool”: catchy names, colorful packaging and tempting promises, this is the recipe for these “anti-hangover” products, sold in certain pharmacies and parapharmacies.

A promise really kept?

What are these food supplements really worth? We asked Sylvie Ducki, medical chemist and professor at the SIGMA engineering school in Clermont-Ferrand. “Scientifically, it holds up“, she notes after analyzing the composition of one of these products. “Faced with each symptom [de la gueule de bois, NDLR], they provide an ingredient that can actually act on it.”

An efficiency highlighted by the laboratories marketing this type of product. “A customer satisfaction rate of 75%“, assures a brand.”Satisfaction rate of 96% and average reduction of 62% in symptoms“, says another, based on a study carried out on around fifty people.

“There is no miracle pill for alcohol.”

Myriam Savy, Addictions France association

at franceinfo

“What questions us is this question of effectiveness.” indicates Myriam Savy, director of communications and advocacy for the Addictions France association. “We know that the mechanism of alcohol absorption is complex and that it varies from one individual to another. So we don’t see how a ‘miracle pill’ would guarantee that the person will not feel bad when they have drunk too much the day before.“The association particularly points the finger at the sale of these products in pharmacies. “That may give the impression that it is a safe product. However, we know very well that this is not the case. she adds, referring to studies carried out by laboratories and “poorly scientifically based“.

Alcohol without its consequences: be careful, danger

Beyond effectiveness, Sylvie Ducki raises the question of the relevance of these products. “Detoxification [promise par ces compléments alimentaires, NDLR] takes place in the liver. Alcohol is not neutralized as soon as it is ingested, it has time to diffuse throughout the body“, explains the medical chemistry researcher, highlighting a “contradiction“.”If you take the tablet after the evening“, this does not prevent alcohol from acting on your body, with its harmful effects. “And if you take the product before, so as not to have the effects of alcohol, what’s the point of drinking?“

“The effect of alcohol comes with its consequences.”

Sylvie Ducki, medical chemist

at franceinfo

“What is problematic for us is above all the message that [ces produits, NDLR] convey“, adds Myriam Savy. They “seem to mean that you can drink whatever you want, as long as you take this remedy, everything will be fine. However, this can encourage people to consume alcohol, perhaps too much“, she underlines, echoing the concerns of the addictologists with whom the association works. “The risks can be immediate: risks of alcoholic coma, accident, sexual violence“.

For several years, the Addiction France association has been seeking to ban these “anti-hangover” food supplements, or at least their advertising. “The danger is at the level of the communication that is made of it“, concludes Myriam Savy, pointing out “quite aggressive marketing“, on social networks and in certain drugstores, “affecting a public that is not necessarily aware of the risks“.