How To Avoid Holiday Hangovers

Alcohol is neutralized into carbon dioxide and water in the liver, your body’s primary organ for detoxification. Along the way, however, numerous intermediary products are formed—some more toxic than alcohol itself. Chief among these is acetaldehyde, a close relative of formaldehyde (the substance used to embalm cadavers). Acetaldehyde increases the production of free radicals that damage the liver and stimulate the brain to trigger feelings of nausea and discomfort.

Supplement With Amino Acids, Vitamins, and Herbs
Certain nutrients, taken before that first drink, can neutralize the effects of acetaldehyde. The most important of these is the amino acid cysteine. By supplementing with cysteine (in the form of N-acetylcysteine), you can actually help your body transform toxic acetaldehyde into glutathione, a potent free-radical fighter and the key agent used by your liver to neutralize harmful substances.

Vitamin C, a powerful water-soluble antioxidant, also helps maintain glutathione levels. Because alcohol is a diuretic, you lose vital water-based nutrients when you drink, so supplementing with vitamin C beforehand will help reduce the after-effects of alcohol. The B-complex vitamins are also water-soluble, and deficiencies are common with alcohol use. Make sure you take extra B vitamins when you drink, especially vitamin B1 (thiamin), which is rapidly destroyed by acetaldehyde.

We recommend taking an herbal extract of milk thistle before you imbibe those holiday cocktails. Its active ingredient, silymarin, is one of the most potent liver-protecting substances known. Silymarin increases the glutathione content of the liver by over 35 percent, increasing its capacity for detoxification. It also stimulates protein synthesis and helps generate new liver cells to replace those damaged during detoxification.

When the Party’s Over…
Before you go to bed, drink at least 16 ounces of water, and continue drinking lots of water the next morning—this will go a long way toward staving off a killer headache. If you do suffer a headache the following morning, don’t take acetaminophen (Tylenol). Acetaminophen in conjunction with alcohol can damage your liver, sometimes fatally.

Instead, steep wintergreen tea for 10 minutes and spike it with as much hot-pepper sauce as you can tolerate. Wintergreen contains salicylates, the active ingredient in aspirin, while hot-pepper sauce (or any powdered version of hot red peppers, such as cayenne) contains capsaicin, another painkiller.

A Recap Before the Nightcap

• To protect your liver (before you drink and again the next morning), take 500 mg of N-acetylcysteine, 1,000 mg of vitamin C, 50 mg of vitamin B1, and 150 mg of standardized milk thistle extract. You can take them individually or in a multi-nutrient supplement for the liver, such as Source Naturals’ Liver Guard, found in health food stores.
• Life Enhancement’s Party Pill II is another good anti-hangover supplement. In addition to cysteine, it is loaded with antioxidants, B-complex vitamins, chromium, and other vitamins and minerals that are depleted by too much alcohol.
• Drink at least 16 ounces of water before bed, and again throughout the following day.
• For a morning-after headache, sip wintergreen tea spiked with hot pepper.
• Remember, moderate alcohol use (1 to 2 drinks a day) appears to have heart-protective effects, but more than this amount negatively impacts your health.