Folklore forms advice for morning after hangovers

PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW -- Dec 19, 1999

From hangnails to allergy attacks, the multitude of products in your local drug store have got just about every ailment known to man covered. But with the approach of New Year's Eve, the corner pharmacy remains unable to treat one ailment that will affect more of its customers than any other: the hangover.

It doesn't take the turnover of a new year - or century - to precipitate an outbreak of hangovers. The tiredness, nausea and headache of a whopping, post-party hangover are as common and tedious a part of holiday revelry as heartburn, unwanted relatives and the umpteenth rendition of Nat King Cole's ubiquitous "Christmas Song."

Fortunately, for those planning to overindulge during the approaching holiday season, several herbal and chemical cures for hangovers are on the market, promising at least temporary relief from the eggnog blues.

Looking in drug stores and pharmacies won't net much in the way of hangover cures, says Tom Yankovec, president of Minneapolis-based LifeStyle Marketing, Inc. But there is help available in other places, he says.

Yankovec's company manufactures Sob'r-K, a carbon-based medication said to drastically reduce the body's ability to absorb alcohol. Sold widely in Europe and Asia, Sob'r-K has only become available in the United States since 1996.

Today, the caplets, which contain a fine, black charcoal powder, can be found in handy foil packets in liquor stores and hanging amongst liquor bottles in bars.

In keeping with the times, Yankovec says the biggest sales outlet for Sob'r-K has proven to be the Internet, a forum where the patented medication can be presented with the lengthy background and research information that Yankovec says is essential for marketing such a revolutionary product.

"Retail drug stores don't really want to invest the time to explain what Sob'r-K does, but in Europe (where the pills are marketed as ToxOver) and Asia (where it's known as SorbSin) we sell it in stores where people are more accustomed to natural detoxicants," Yankovec says.

Through the company's exhaustively detailed Web site, it becomes as clear as gin how the activated carbon in Sob'r-K - the same chemical substance used widely in hospital emergency rooms to detoxify patents who've suffered alcohol poisoning - works to filter out impurities in the bloodstream.

When two of the 500 milligram capsules are taken every hour while drinking, Yankovec claims a noticeable reduction in the immediate effects of alcohol (slurred speech, increased blood alcohol level). The dreaded hangover waiting to assault drinkers the next day should arrive in a gentler form, as most of the toxins that cause dehydration, nausea and other hangover staples are prevented from reaching the bloodstream.

However, cures using a variety of herbal supplements are old hat amongst Chinese herbalists and homeopaths, says Dan Denlinger, supplement and herb buyer at the East End Food Co-Op, in Point Breeze.

The store's vast selection of preservative-free foodstuffs and organic produce recently has been bolstered by an herbal supplement department that contains several cures for the holiday mornings after.

Among the most popular products is an herbal tea concentrate made from an extract of the roots from kudzu vine. Denlinger says the HerbaSway teas, developed by acupuncturist and biochemist Dr. Herman Zhou, contain daidizn, a naturally occurring plant compound (or phyto-estrogen) of the kudzu vine and soy bean. When ingested, daidzin acts as a natural toxicant blocker, much like the processed carbon in Sob'r-K.

The East-End Food Co-Op has other means to eliminating bloodshot eyes, aching livers and those mornings when we insincerely swear to never touch another drop of alcohol, including a line of vitamins and supplements containing zinc, an element Denlinger recommends as an anti-inflammatory agent in healing wounds.

"It's extremely important the day after a night of heavy drinking to get at least 50 milligrams of zinc and a multivitamin, as well. Water is also extremely important because your kidneys are working hard while you're drinking to clear all the alcohol out of your system ... you get dehydrated and lose vitamins at the same time," he says.

At Squirrel Hill's Goldenseal health food store, specific cures for the multiple symptoms of a hangover aren't a specialty, but sales staffer Melissa Traub suggests placing a tablet of the homeopathic remedy Nuxvomica under the tongue before a bout at the bars, which is a natural herbal remedy for stomach upset.

Traub also suggests attacking alcohol's diuretic side (which causes dehydration via frequent urination), by fortifying the body with vitamins B and C. A reloading of electrolytes also helps speed the recovery period after the office Christmas party. Electrolytes are readily available in popular sports drinks such as Gatorade.

At LifeStyle Marketing, Inc., where Yankovec is so enthusiastic about his company's hangover remedy, he claims the pills are useful as a dietary supplement for overall improved health and even a catalyst for hair growth.

But even Yankovec claims the best and most reliable hangover cure doesn't come in pill or liquid form.

"Not drinking at all seems to work best," he says.

Sell to local liquor stores 

2007 Sob'r-K and Sob'r-K Logo is a trademark of LifeStyle Marketing Inc.

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