Could this pill really do what it promises and actually prevent a hangover?
Finding the miracle cure for a hangover is certainly an urgent quest for certain entrepreneurs, and understandably so. Just imagine being the person who brings the ultimate magic product to market: I think you’d get a statue in every city where alcohol is served. Perhaps that’s what these makers are hoping for too?
Because there’s (once again) a new remedy on the anti-hangover market, and the brand behind it promises that this really is the breakthrough that means you’ll never again have to spend a truly miserable night with your cheeks pressed against the cool bathroom tiles…
Set the timer
Myrkl is the product’s brand name, which you can read as ‘miracle’ if you’re feeling generous. The idea is that you take it before you start drinking: two pills at least an hour before the bartender opens the tap for you. According to the makers, this pill speeds up the process by which alcohol is broken down before it reaches the liver. The website does state, by the way, that it is not intended to ease the impact of ‘excessive’ alcohol consumption.
Mandatory hen-party supplies
The company commissioned research by, among others, a Swiss pharmaceutical firm, which reportedly showed that blood alcohol levels had fallen by 50% after half an hour, and by 70% after an hour when people had taken these pills beforehand. Myrkl was first launched in the United Kingdom, so we’re curious to see whether all the British hen-party revelers visiting our country have by now stuffed their suitcases and bags full of the stuff.
A pack of thirty pills costs (for now) £30, so at just one pound per pill, it might be worth a try.
Donnie Downer
But who was already ready with a (probably justified) party pooper? Joris Verster, associate professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Utrecht University. According to him, there is ‘no scientific evidence whatsoever that this product is effective against hangovers.’ And so, as always, we end up with a truth as sober as a cow: prevention is better than cure.
Also read:
- Fact check: does drinking alcohol help against a hangover?
- Is this powder really the miracle cure for a hangover?
- Drinking for science: these people drank litres of alcohol for a hangover study
