Can a new injection prevent a hangover? I put it to the test

IIf dry January left you longing for a night out, perhaps the arrival of wet February – when some people overcompensate after a month without alcohol – was already a reminder of the downsides of excessive drinking.

If so, a new product that claims to quickly reduce blood alcohol levels, combat the symptoms of intoxication and allow users to “never lose a day” until the night before may sound like an attractive antidote.

Safety Shot is the latest in a line of products said to speed the breakdown of alcohol and replenish essential nutrients that help the body recover. “The big difference is that there is nothing in the world that lowers blood alcohol levels like our proprietary beverage,” said Brian John, CEO of Safety Shot.

It launched in the US before Christmas and cans of the stuff sold out almost immediately. Further launches are planned in Britain and elsewhere later this year. But does it really work? I nobly grabbed a wine glass to find out.

A birthday party offers my first opportunity. I arrive with a few cans, in addition to the necessary bottle of wine. Our host, Ben, looks at them suspiciously. “Why would you want to get sober?” he says.

I don’t tell him about a drunken night where I thought there were little people in my handbag, when in reality I had just accidentally turned on my dictaphone. Instead, I try to convince him with the possibility of avoiding a hangover.

According to Safety Shot Chief Operating Officer David Sandler, the drink’s proprietary formulation not only reduces the effects of alcohol by helping the body process it more efficiently, but also improves how people feel immediately and the next day.

If I could get the alcohol out of my system faster, maybe it would have less impact on my sleep. It can also improve my conversation skills and help me remember what I said.

I’m going to continue getting drunk enough to test Sandler’s claims. Three courses and seven glasses of wine later, I take my breathalyzer: it registers 120mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood – well above the UK drink-driving limit of 80mg/100ml of blood, and enough to impair speech, judgment and body movements. to hinder. . I also do a reaction speed test, which registers an average of 365 ms. The norm for a fasting adult is 200-250 ms.

I crack open a can of Safety Shot. Orange flavored and cloyingly sweet, the liquid feels like it’s sucking all the moisture out of my tongue. Ben doesn’t seem impressed. “I still don’t feel like participating,” he says.

I stop drinking and start taking breath analysis every 20 minutes. At one point my friends convince me to put two copper coins in my mouth because someone thinks it might interfere with the breathalyzer. The fact that I agree to this indicates that I am still far from sober – but despite a temporary and small dip, my blood alcohol level continues to fluctuate around 110 mg/ml for the next two hours.

So much for rapidly reducing my blood alcohol content. Still, I am full of energy and after an hour my reaction speed has improved to 276 ms. Even Ben says I seem ‘perkier’.

I don’t feel drunk walking home at 1am, but I don’t feel completely sober either: my limbs feel sluggish even when I’m wide awake. I slept restlessly that night and woke up tired but without a hangover. Could the safety bulkhead have helped?

According to Dr Emmert Roberts, senior clinical lecturer in addiction psychiatry at King’s College London, pyridoxine (vitamin B6) is the only ingredient on the can for which there is “very minimal evidence” that it reduces hangover symptoms.

Roberts recently reviewed the scientific evidence for various hangover interventions. “The conclusion was that there are very few scientifically rigorous studies on products that claim to prevent or cure hangovers, which is unfortunately still true,” he said.

However, I am convinced that the drink affected my alertness, so I decide to try it again, this time with half a bottle of wine with dinner.

There is still no discernible difference in the rate at which my blood alcohol drops compared to just drinking the same amount of wine. But about an hour after drinking the Safety Shot, at 10 p.m. on Sunday, I experience an overwhelming urge to clean my living room, which I do. That night I hardly slept.

It may be due to the 200 mg of caffeine in the can, which is equivalent to about four shots of espresso. Two other ingredients – theacrine and methylliberine – may also increase mental alertness, while another, huperzine-A, may improve mental function, said Dr. Ashwin Dhanda of the University of Plymouth, who researches alcohol-related liver diseases. But “without knowing its doses, it is difficult to assess objectively,” he added.

The same goes for several other ingredients mentioned that could theoretically aid in the breakdown of alcohol. Dhanda said: “The manufacturer claims that it reduces blood alcohol levels, further reduces alcohol absorption and improves mental function. However, none of these claims have been reviewed or approved by the FDA (US Food and Drug Administration) and no clinical trials have been conducted to formally validate them. Therefore, these can at best be regarded as marketing claims based on the theoretical effect of some ingredients.”

Safety Shot claims that a double-blind, placebo-controlled study is underway examining the effects of alcohol before and after consuming the product. The website also states that every person is different and that “genetics, liver health, habituation and a host of other factors can influence the rate at which alcohol is metabolized.”

I won’t be having another Safety Shot after a night of drinking. But I might be tempted to drink one the next morning – especially if I have housework to do.