As I get older, I find my relationship with alcohol to be a true health challenge. I have written about the growing body of research suggesting the consumption of any amount of alcohol is bad for you, directly contradicting the long-held belief that one or two drinks per day can be part of a healthy diet. And age has taught me that my ability to recover from the effects of alcohol takes longer the older I get. So, when I saw this article about a liquid supplement that claims to improve cognitive function, wellbeing, and lower blood alcohol levels in as little as 30 minutes, I read on.   

The brand purports to contain a propriety blend of vitamins, minerals, and botanical ingredients that will create a new approach to how people drink and manage their lifestyles. The marketing angle is focused on the product's ostensible health benefits. The supplement is supposed to be good for you, all natural, and able to improve focus and cognition. Thus, if you drink it after alcohol consumption, “[y]ou start to feel like you're coming around.” Of course, some will argue that if you can really minimize the effects of a hangover in a half an hour, the product will encourage binge drinking and over consumption.

The ultimate question for me is whether the product works. Does it really “cure” the common hangover? The company behind the supplement recently published the results of a double-blind, placebo-controlled test that it asserts substantiate its marketing claims. The problem is that the science behind the cause of hangovers and how to combat them is not fully understood. All that being said, I will probably want to give this a try. But I will do with a healthy amount of skepticism. The other thing age has taught me is that if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.