I tried the $12 ‘miracle’ hangover cure… but I made a critical mistake that left me full of regret
The older I get, the more I realize I can’t hold my liquor like I used to.
While there was a time when I could pack away half a dozen drinks and wake up the next morning as if nothing had happened, that’s not the case anymore. Now, it only takes a couple of beers or cocktails for a raging headache and a wave of nausea to wake me up early in the morning.
I’m far from alone. Recent research estimates eight in 10 Americans have had at least one hangover after a night of over-indulging.
Alcohol tolerance also naturally wanes with age because liver enzymes that break it down become less responsive. Circulation also worsens over time, leading to higher alcohol content in the bloodstream.
Because most Americans get hangovers and have a harder time avoiding them with age, quick-fix hangover remedies have become an ever-growing market. Globally, the hangover cure market is valued at $2.3billion, with experts estimating it will surpass $6.2billion by the end of the decade.
One of the market’s newest products promises to banish the hangover by using what’s already in our guts: bacteria.
Pre-Alcohol, from California-based biotech startup ZBiotics, is a clear, flavorless vial of Bacillus subtilis, a probiotic, or ‘good’ bacteria, naturally found in the gut and in fermented foods such as kimchi, Korean soybean paste and kefir.
Probiotics like Bacillus subtilis have been shown to promote healthy digestion and help the body absorb vital nutrients, but ZBiotics claims they may also help break down a harmful byproduct of alcohol called acetaldehyde.
I can usually only handle a couple of drinks before I end up with a hangover. However, I decided to put a new hangover remedy to the test
Pre-Alcohol by ZBiotics (pictured here) promises to banish a hangover by breaking down toxic byproducts of alcohol
Dr Wesley Buckle, a licensed naturopathic doctor at The Oasis Addiction Treatment Center in California who is not affiliated with ZBiotics, told the Daily Mail: ‘Your body breaks down the ethanol and alcohol to acetaldehyde. This is a toxic compound and contributes to headaches and other adverse effects a person may experience after drinking alcohol.
‘The idea behind ZBiotics is that it can reduce acetaldehyde that’s present in the digestive tract after drinking.’
A three-pack of the 0.5-ounce bottles sells for $36, while a bulk pack of 50 goes for $400.
As I prepared to celebrate my 30th birthday earlier this month, with my hangover-free days long behind me, I decided to put ZBiotics to the test.
The company claims Pre-Alcohol can be taken at any point before your first drink, though Dr Jeff Rosenberg, an emergency medicine physician and area developer at Prime IV Hydration & Wellness, told the Daily Mail that he would suggest downing it a few hours ahead of your first sip of alcohol.
‘If you did not plan ahead and take pre-alcohol after you’ve started drinking, it will only have minimal if any benefit,’ Dr Rosenberg, who is not affiliated with ZBiotics, said.
I drank the vial about 30 minutes before my first drink, a rum and coke, which I now realize likely wasn’t enough time for the Bacillus subtilis to camp out in my gut microbiome. It had no taste or smell, unlike some other similar products I’ve tried, which made it easy to drink.
As the night wore on, I naturally got drunker and lost track of how many drinks I had. I normally tap out around two or three, but if I had to guess, I was hovering around seven.
ZBiotics uses probiotics to break up acetaldehyde in the gut microbiome, a byproduct shown to cause tell-tale signs of a hangover
ZBiotics doesn’t claim to lessen the overall effects of alcohol, just the hangover, so it was no surprise that I was losing control of my faculties.
But whether it was the fact that I took Pre-Alcohol too late or had too much to drink, I woke up around 3am that night with a familiar sensation. My head pounded, I was sweating so much I thought I had a fever and there wasn’t enough water in the world to quench my thirst.
I was, regrettably, hungover.
Now all it really took to fix this was drinking my weight in water, shuffling to the closest deli for a bacon, egg and cheese, and lying on the couch until I felt like a person again, but Pre-Alcohol still failed to do its job.
That, or I failed to take it correctly.
Dr Buckle told the Daily Mail that this could have simply come down to less-than-sound science. In one 2024 trial of the drink, experts compared the probiotics in Pre-Alcohol to a non genetically modified strain of Bacillus subtilis and found that Pre-Alcohol broke down significantly more acetaldehyde.
But the science is limited.
It can take up to three days for the body to return to normal functioning following a two-day boozing bender, experts say
Dr Buckle said: ‘There are no large-scale studies showing that taking this probiotic can really help reduce hangover symptoms. A lot of the claims made seem like marketing language.’
There is no clear harm, however, to taking Bacillus subtilis. The FDA considers it generally recognized as safe (GRAS), though in rare cases, probiotics have been shown to cause blood infections in people with weakened immune systems. However, alcohol use can also worsen immune function in these groups.
Dr Buckle told the Daily Mail that while Pre-Alcohol seems promising, hangovers are best prevented by addressing the source.
He said: ‘I wouldn’t recommend something like this to prevent hangovers. The best way to prevent hangovers is to slow down and consume less alcohol.
‘If a person feels that they need a product like this to function after a night out, it’s a sign that they may need to take a close look at how much they are drinking and cut back.’
