Can vitamins help hangovers?

Almost everyone who drinks has experienced a hangover at least once. A hangover usually consists of an upset stomach, shakiness, thirst, fatigue, headaches, muscle aches and irritability. The more you drink the worse the hangover gets. There is no magic potion to make a hangover go away. Vitamins can help hangovers but they aren’t cure all’s. Your best bet to get rid of a hangover is to get plenty of sleep and to drink plenty of Gatorade or water. If you want to add vitamins to help with your hangover you are more than welcome to though. When you drink your body gets depleted of many essential vitamins.

Heavy drinking decreases your levels of vitamin B1. Alcoholics are partially at risk of being deficient in vitamin B1 because alcohol not only depletes your body of it but inhibits your body’s ability to store it. Good food sources of vitamin B1 also known as thiamine are brown rice, egg yolks, legumes, pork and whole grains. You could also take a B vitamin complex to replenish B1 and B-vitamin levels in the body. It is also recommended to help with hangovers that you even take these vitamins with a glass of water before you start drinking. You will remember that next time.

Vitamin C is a potent antioxidant that can reverse the effects of free-radical damage to cells brought on throughout the body by alcohol. Vitamin C can also help to neutralize the effects of the alcohol byproduct in your body which is acetaldehyde and malondialdehyde. Good sources of Vitamin C are of course citrus fruit such as oranges, berries, and green vitamins. Vitamin E is also very good because of its anti-oxidant properties. Vitamin E is found in avocados, cold-pressed vegetable oils, legumes and nuts. So eat up during your hangover because vitamins can help.

Want some more natural help with hangovers?

Some other things that can help hangovers are garlic based vitamin supplements. Garlic is a cure all. Garlic contains vitamins C and E, beta-carotene, selenium, and S-allyl-cysteine which neutralizes alcohol’s byproduct acetaldehyde.  Activated charcoal will also work to neutralize the poisons from alcohol that cause the hangover. Ginger is great for soothing upset stomachs. Consuming food and drinks that contain fructose such as fruit juices and honey will help your body burn alcohol faster too-so drink that soda, cherry juice, whatever it is you have on hand. Bouillon helps replace potassium that gets depleted by alcohol. Potassium levels get severely depleted when you drink so you can either take a potassium supplement or eat something with potassium such as fish.

The best help for your hangover though is plenty of rest and fluids. Hangovers are usually gone within 24 hours so if you don’t feel like getting in your vitamins now, take them a few days after your hangover to put your body back into tip-top shape. Avoid taking things like Tylenol and acetaminophen even though your headache is probably awful, because they can cause possible liver damage when combined with alcohol.

Either way the most reliable way to help a hangover is to not drink so you don’t have one. If you do get one though, vitamins can help a hangover but they are not a cure. You should always consult a medical doctor before taking supplements or starting any vitamins.

Sources: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2039990_2039991_2040040,00.html

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