Do B12 pills for hangovers really work? How do they work to cure hangovers? Or is it just a myth? You're not alone, many people have found themselves asking these questions.
Hangovers are one of the downsides to drinking, including pounding headaches, nausea, and a burning thirst are just some of the symptoms.
Among searching for hangover cures you'll find many vitamins to prevent hangover, and B vitamins listed often. Specifically B12, could be the answer. We've done the research for you to answer these questions if B12 pills for hangovers work.
B12, also chemically known as Cobalamin, is a water soluable vitamin and vital nutrient that plays an important role in the proper functioning of your nervous system, brain and blood cells. It also helps make DNA, the genetic material in all cells, and helps prevent anemia by making red blood cells.
Vitamin B12 is found in many foods, including fish, meat, poultry, eggs, milk and milk products and supplements.
Vitamin B12 is a water-soluble vitamin that occurs naturally in many foods. It was discovered in the 1800s, and since then, B12 has been used to treat numerous conditions.
Benefits of vitamin b12 pills are:
Does B12 pills for hangovers work? To answer this question, we dive into the research done on B12's effect on alcohol and hangovers.
Here's the studies on vitamin B12 with alcohol and hangovers:
In this study at the Jacobi Medical Center NY, alcohol intoxicated patients did not have any vitamin B12 deficiency.¹ Furthermore, there was no deficiency in folate (B9) shown, but 15% showed deficiencies in thiamine (B1).
Does vitamin b help with hangovers? Well, there are no further studies done on B12 and hangovers than the ones above.
There are a lot of hangover remedies out there, ranging from the totally effective to the completely useless. But Vitamin B12 for hangovers falls somewhere in between.
It won't magically cure your hangover, and there is no vitamin B12 research linked to it helping with alcohol metabolism or hangovers. And surprisingly there was no vitamin B12 deficiencies found with alcohol consumption, although there was a minor amount found on vitamin B1 (thiamine).
Even though there's zero research to show B12 pills for hangovers work, with the general benefits this supplement may help lesson some symptoms such as fatigue and poor concentration.
(If you want to know how to help hangover anxiety, check out our write-up on hangover anxiety relief from South Korea.)
Based on the research, there's zero evidence to show that B12 pills for hangovers effectively work for alcohol consumption. Both studies we found show that vitamin B12 is not reduced or deficient in patients consuming alcohol. However, we do not discount that fact that vitamin B12 has numerous benefits to your body and might help with some negative effects from alcohol including energy levels, mood and your immune system.
While far from a critical ingredient in hangover pills, vitamin B12 may be beneficial in vitamin B complex types of supplements.
An herb out of Asia, called Hovenia Dulcis, shows more promising results for preventing hangovers than vitamin B12 and are often in Korean anti hangover pills.
A Korean study found that those who took a Hovenia Dulcis extract improved the inflammatory response to alcohol and had a significant decrease in overall hangover symptoms.³
Want to supplement Hovenia Dulcis? Try our recovery chewables that are infused with this Asian herb.
SOURCES:
1. Vitamin deficiencies in acutely intoxicated patients in the ED
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18774045/
2. Effect of chronic alcohol consumption on total plasma homocysteine level in rats
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10776661/
3. A standardized extract of the fruit of Hovenia dulcis alleviated alcohol-induced hangover in healthy subjects
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28750942/
