We have a drug to treat everything nowadays – from cancer, to Alzheimer’s, erectile dysfunction and constipation.
But there’s one ailment millions suffer every weekend that has so far escaped science: the dreaded hangover.
However, wellness companies have developed a slew of remedies for this, including patches, pills, and even at-home IV cocktails. One of them, Safety Shot, claims to cure a hangover before the night out is even over.
A concoction of B vitamins, caffeine, and salt, Safety Shot is a drink that promised at launch last year to be the ‘first ever’ proven remedy to lower blood alcohol content within a half hour by breaking up alcohol before it reaches the gut.
At $19.99 for four cans, it sold out the same day it launched, and shares in the firm jumped 85 percent in a month.
EVE SIMMONS: I tried Safety Shot both the night of drinking and the morning after
Earlier this week, Safety Shot announced that this claim was backed in a clinical trial, with participants reporting they were less fatigued, more energized, and better able to concentrate within just a few minutes of drinking it.
However, the study isn’t publicly available, so it’s unclear if it had many limitations. This made two reporters skeptical, so they put the remedy to the test to see if they could escape a hangover.
Eve Simmons, Health Editor
Anyone who knows me will tell you I am a cheap date. Two glasses is enough to get me giggly.
After a bottle, it’s not uncommon for me to fall over – and the next day is a complete write off.
According to Safety Shot’s website, the ingredients are effective both during the drunken evening and the next morning – so I did both.
For the first part of my experiment, I tested the drink out with a bottle of Chablis.
Eve tried a slew of hangover-busting supplements, including an IV which made her feel more alert but did nothing to relieve her dry mouth, headache nausea
About halfway through, I realized I had no desire to check my work emails (usually the first sign I’m intoxicated). My tongue was loose and my voice slightly louder than usual.
I cracked open the can, and my god, it tasted disgusting.
If you’ve ever had the misfortune of taking chalky Vitamin B12 tablets (not the capsules) – it’s a bit like eating three at once.
I felt little difference. And, remembering to slurp that brassy concoction between glasses of wine was somewhat of a challenge – think the old ‘glass of water with every drink’ method on steroids.
Still, I managed to get through about a quarter of a can which, apparently, was not enough to get me back up to speed.
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Then there’s the hangover. I woke up feeling marginally less awful than expected.
But that may have been the liter of water I downed after waking at 4am with an unquenchable thirst.
I sat up in bed and took another revolting gulp of Safety Shot. It was then that I decided to get up and, for some reason, pick up a pair of hand weights from underneath my bed at 7am.
This unexpected burst of energy probably came from the drink’s 200 milligrams of caffeine – more than two cups of coffee and half the FDA’s recommended limit.
It kept me afloat for most of the morning and fueled three hours of vacation shopping in jam-packed downtown Brooklyn.
But then, come 5pm, I hit an enormous slump. I walked in the door, collapsed on the couch and only moved to meet the man delivering my shawarma at the front door.
There was also an odd side effect from the caffeine I didn’t expect: my heart was beating exceptionally fast. Or at least it felt like it was.
While it could explain the early-morning weightlifting session, it’s unlikely to have made any difference to the alcohol in my blood the night before.
Dr George Dawson, past president of the Minnesota Psychiatric Society and addiction expert, told DailyMail.com: ‘Caffeine has been specifically debunked in a toxicology text as a way to reverse the acute effects of alcohol.’
In fact, he says, ‘none’ of the ingredients in the drink have been shown to increase alcohol metabolism or reduce the impact of hangovers in high-quality clinical trials.
Dr Dawson also highlighted the presence of two other, little-known ingredients that may partly explain my thumping heartbeat.
Theobromine – which is used to make caffeine – and synephrine, which is extracted from the skin of bitter oranges, are also known to cause palpitations.
The former is typically found in cocoa beans, while the latter is naturally present in the skin of bitter oranges and other citrus.
If it worked for other people in the trial, great for them. But after trying some other methods like hangover patches, IV drips, and packets of Liquid IV, I don’t think a quick-fix hangover cure exists, unless you’re drinking heavily most days of the week – which I don’t recommend either.
Emily Joshu, Health Reporter
I’m not one to drink entire bottles of wine, but on the rare occasion I do, it never ends well
It only takes a couple beers or glasses of wine before I’m tripping over my own feet, but I like to think I’m pretty good at staying hydrated and avoiding hangovers.
I’m that friend shoving water in my friends’ faces in between drinks – including at my own bachelorette party – to keep me from being totally useless the next day.
But I decided if I was truly going to test it Safety Shot out, I’d have to play a game of Hangover Roulette.
With two cans of the drink stuffed in my purse, I enlisted one of my best friends to witness my downfall firsthand.
I met her at one of our neighborhood mainstays, where we each ordered some fruity cocktail with a long list of ingredients I didn’t pay attention to and the restaurant’s ‘Girl Dinner’ special – Caesar salad, fries, and boneless chicken wings.
After each sinking a cocktail and a frosty mug of Miller High Life, I could feel my cheeks getting slightly warm as it took a little extra effort to stand up.
But I didn’t feel like I was nearly drunk enough to open up the Safety Shot, so we decided to head somewhere else.
With my friend’s husband out of town, we decided to head to her apartment to hang out with her puppy – and pick up two bottles of wine on the way.
This is when things started going downhill. I cracked open one of the bottles and hunkered down on the couch with the dog, and as the contents of the bottle quickly diminished, I could hear a bit of a slur in my voice.
I took a sip of the Safety Shot, which was a mistake. The orange liquid was so bitter it felt like drinking slightly expired orange juice that had been sitting out in the sun.
My friend took a sip as well and immediately had a ‘wow, that was awful’ look on her face.
For some reason, we decided now was as good a time as any to turn on the movie Saltburn.
I’m not sure how much I would have understood what was happening sober, but after what at this point was an unclear amount of alcohol, I was completely lost.
My friend’s dog, Millie, made a loyal drinking companion, but it was around this point that things started going south
I forced myself to drink more Safety Shot. I didn’t feel less drunk by any means, but the caffeine hit my system fast. I’m pretty sure at one point I said out loud: ‘I feel like I’m vibrating.’
Though I’m a regular coffee drinker, it’s possible I may have felt this effect more than other people drinking Safety Shot.
I have a very mild heart condition called inappropriate sinus tachycardia (IST), in which my heart can beat faster than normal without a good reason.
In my case, my heart rate can shoot up and I’ll get out of breath from something as mild as a hot shower or walking up a flight of stairs.
Caffeine doesn’t usually trigger my symptoms, but after maybe a quarter of the can, my heart was pounding and my hands were shaking. I grabbed my phone and clumsily typed ‘drunk but fast’ into my Notes app.
I stumbled home and left the second can of Safety Shot in my friend’s fridge, where I’m pretty sure it still is. I fell asleep fast, but as it always is when I drink heavily, I woke up every few hours tossing and turning, switching between hot and cold.
When I finally rolled out of bed around 9am, my head was pounding just above my right eye like an ice pick was jammed inside my brain. My entire body ached, and I could hardly sit up without quick waves of nausea.
I didn’t try to drink any more Safety Shot, as the first can clearly had not made any difference on the drunkenness or the hangover.
The same friend from the night before brought me a McDonald’s hash brown and an iced coffee, and I spent the day sprawled across the couch, only moving to make some soup.
Next time, I think I’ll just stick to water and a greasy bacon, egg, and cheese the next morning.
