2013年最重大的一个饮酒之夜前夕，我们听到了一个坏消息——

 

    世界上可能没有办法治疗你在1月1日醒来时难免遇到的宿醉症状。

 

    尽管如此，站在几乎所有的加油站或酒类商店，只要环顾四周，就会令你燃起在2014年不会遭遇宿醉的希望。毕竟，在啤酒箱和大瓶红酒的旁边，可能摆放着几种饮料、药丸或者胶囊。生产厂家都宣称，如果你在大量饮酒之前或之后服用它们，你就会好受得多。

 

    欢迎来到治疗宿醉的隐秘行业。

 

    “宿醉治疗是一场骗局，”杜克大学（Duke University）药物学教授、《完全披露：酒精、迷幻药等常见滥用药物的那些事》（Buzzed: The Straight Facts About the Most Used and Abused Drugs from Alcohol to Ecstasy）的联合作者辛西娅•库恩博士说：“大部分解酒产品推销的很多成分都无法治疗宿醉症状，阿司匹林和咖啡因等成分可能会有所帮助，但它们的含量比其他产品要少得多。”

 

    简单来说，喝下的酒精越多，身体就越难代谢这种有毒物质，第二天醒来时就会越难受。恶心、头痛、疲惫和口渴是最常见的宿醉症状。对于大多数饮酒者而言，只有一种经过验证的宿醉治疗方法，那就是时间。

 

    上述事实在医学界里得到普遍认同，但依然没能阻止几家公司试图靠治疗宿醉来赚钱。NOHO公司是“防宿醉”饮料NoHo的生产商，公司CEO杰伊•戈迪纳预计，公司的销售额将在三年内增长到1亿美元，前提是宿醉虽然无法治疗，但可以预防。戈迪纳声称，夜晚饮酒之前喝下一瓶两盎司的NoHo饮料，就能让身体“预载”姜根和仙人镜萃取物等天然成分，帮助酒精代谢。2013年，NoHo销售额增长了40%。

 

    “我们的产品能增强身体机能，在你喝下第一杯酒之前就发挥作用，”戈迪纳说。“我们是酒精行业里的防晒霜。我们让你的身体远离酒精导致的不良反应。”NoHo每瓶价格为3美元，在全美2.5万家商店有售。

 

    美国食品药物管理局（Food and Drug Administration，简称FDA）把NoHo和其他宿醉治疗产品归类为膳食补充剂。与药物生产商不同，补充剂生产商不可以宣称他们的产品能治疗、减轻或预防疾病。NoHo这类产品的营销应该以“清肝”或者“舒缓肠胃”为中心。

 

    但FDA膳食补充剂部门主管丹•法布里坎特表示，NoHo的成分和宣传都没有得到FDA的审查或认可。

    On the eve of one of the biggest drinking nights of the year, we have some bad news.

 

    There is likely no cure for the hangover that you will inevitably wake up with come January 1st.

 

    Despite this dark truth, a look around practically any gas station or liquor store could still give you hope for a hangover-free 2014. After all, next to the cases of beer and magnums of wine there are likely several drinks, pills, or capsules from companies all promising that they will make you feel better if you take them before or after a big night out.

 

    Welcome to the hazy business of treating your hangover.

 

    "Hangover treatments and cures are a scam," said Dr. Cynthia Kuhn, a professor of pharmacology at Duke University and the co-author of Buzzed: The Straight Facts About the Most Used and Abused Drugs from Alcohol to Ecstasy. "Most hangover products market a lot of ingredients that cannot change hangover symptoms, or ingredients like aspirin and caffeine that might help but are available for much less on their own."

 

    Put simply, the more alcohol you drink, the harder it is for your body to metabolize the toxic substance and the worse you typically feel the next morning. Nausea, headaches, fatigue, and thirst are the most common symptoms the morning after a night of overdrinking. For most drinkers, the only proven cure for a bad hangover is time.

 

    These largely agreed-upon facts in the medical community have not stopped several companies from trying to turn a profit in the hangover treatment industry. Jay Grdina, the CEO of NOHO Inc. (DRNK) and the maker of the "no hangover defense" beverage NoHo, predicts his company will grow to $100 million in sales in three years on the premise that while you cannot cure a hangover, you can prevent ever getting one in the first place. By drinking a two-ounce bottle of NoHo before a night out, Grdina claims you can "preload" your system with natural ingredients like ginger root and prickly pear extract that help metabolize alcohol. In 2013, NoHo sales increased by 40%.

 

    "Our product works prior to your first drink by fortifying your body," said Grdina about the $3 beverage sold in 25,000 stores nationwide. "We are the sunblock of alcohol. We protect your body against the adverse effects of alcohol."

 

    The Food and Drug Administration classifies NoHo and other hangover products like it as dietary supplements. Unlike drugmakers, supplement manufacturers cannot make claims that their products will cure, mitigate, treat, or prevent a disease. Instead, a product like NoHo centers its marketing on how it "cleanses the liver" or "soothes the stomach and digestive system."

 

    Still, none of its ingredients or claims have been vetted or approved by the FDA, according to Dan Fabricant, the director of the FDA's Division of Dietary Supplement Programs.



 

“他们能说什么，不能说什么。目前在这个问题上存在灰色地带，”法布里坎特在谈到膳食补充剂公司的宣传时表示。“俗话说，如果听起来好得令人难以置信，可能就不是事实。”

 

    由于没有FDA的认可，膳食补充剂公司试图通过其他途径来为他们的产品提供可靠性。NoHo的配方由一位药剂师发明，目前正接受医学测试，验证其有效性。私人所有的防宿醉饮料公司Mercy Nutraceuticals最近公布了一项临床研究的初步结果，证明其产品能缓解与饮酒有关的宿醉症状。

 

    其他公司则宣称，治疗宿醉的最有效方法是在第二天早晨服用他们推出的非处方药。私营公司Rally Labs的总裁兼创始人布伦娜•海瑟姆说，虽然“补充剂这个野生世界”在很大程度上没有受到医学界的监管，但她们公司的柠檬味沸腾片Blowfish采用咖啡因和阿司匹林等受到FDA监管的成分制成。这种药片每片售价约2美元，在全美8,000多家商店有售。这家公司的网站声称，Blowfish能在短短的15分钟内消除酒精引起的不良反应。海瑟姆不愿透露公司的业绩情况。

 

    库恩博士质疑宿醉治疗产品是不是真的比多喝水和服止痛片等传统方法更加有效。然而，宿醉缓解饮料和药丸的市场不断扩大，确实表明人们亟需可靠的治疗方法。美国疾病控制与预防中心（the Center for Disease Control and Prevention）的数据显示，美国人每年喝掉1,170亿杯酒。宿醉未消者拖着沉重的步伐前往办公室，因为工作场所生产力下降而每年给美国带来1,600亿美元的经济损失。

 

    解决宿醉问题的明显方法极其简单，就是不要饮酒。66%的美国人有时喜欢喝些啤酒、红酒或鸡尾酒，因此，这对他们不是个轻松的选择。

 

    “我们国家提倡适度饮酒。喝酒是我们的社交机制的一部分，”Mercy公司CEO大卫•拉西科特说。“每次我们迎来假期季节时，饮酒量就会增加。”

 

    虽然2014年已经到来，但宿醉的确切治疗方法不可能在近期出现。杜克大学社会科学研究所预防科学教授、《完全披露》一书的联合作者威尔基•威尔逊博士说，很少有研究机构愿意研究酒精对身体造成不良影响的各种方式，因为这本来是可以预防的问题。结果，医学界仍然不知道如何解决宿醉导致的痛苦。

 

 

 

    威尔逊说：“我们到底应不应该把宝贵的研究资金用来弄清楚如何使人们在豪饮之后好受点？除非能有比这更大的好处。但可能并没有这样的好处。” （财富中文网）

 

    译者：千牛絮    

    "There is a grey area on what they can or cannot say," Fabricant said, speaking broadly about the claims of dietary supplement companies. "We like to say that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is."

 

    Without the FDA's official stamp of approval, dietary supplement companies attempt to bring credibility to their products in other ways. NoHo's formula was created by a pharmacist and is currently undergoing medical testing for its positive effects. Privately held hangover-prevention beverage company Mercy Nutraceuticals recently announced the preliminary results of a clinical study that showed its product reduced hangover symptoms associated with alcohol consumption.

 

    Other companies sell over-the-counter drugs that claim the most effective way to battle a hangover is to instead take something the morning after. Brenna Haysom, the president and founder of the privately held Rally Labs, said while "the wild world of supplements" goes largely unregulated by the medical community, her company's lemon-flavored fizzy tablet Blowfish is made with FDA-regulated ingredients like caffeine and aspirin. The product is available for about $2 per dose in more than 8,000 stores across the country and is marketed on its website as being able to knock out the adverse effects of alcohol in as little as 15 minutes. Haysom declined to comment specifically about her company's financial performance.

 

    Dr. Kuhn is skeptical that hangover treatment products are any more effective at warding off a hangover than traditional solutions like staying hydrated or taking a pain reliever. Still, the growing market for hangover-easing drinks and pills does prove that people are desperate for a reliable cure. Americans consume 117 billion drinks every year, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Hungover workers who trudge to the office after a night of tying one on cost the U.S. economy $160 billion annually in lost workplace productivity.

 

    The obvious solution to this problem is painfully simple: Just don't drink. But for the 66% of Americans who enjoy the occasional beer, wine, or cocktail, that is not an easy option.

 

    "We are a nation of light to moderate alcohol consumers, and it is part of our social dynamic," said David Racicot, the CEO of Mercy. "As we come up on the holiday season, drinking comes at an even faster pace."

 

    Even as 2014 approaches, an undeniable cure for your hangover is not likely something that will be discovered in the near future. Dr. Wilkie Wilson, a professor of prevention science at Duke's Social Sciences Research Institute and the co-author of Buzzed, said very few institutions are willing to devote research into all the ways alcohol negatively affects the body because it is such a preventable problem. As a result, the medical community also remains in the dark about what exactly can curb the misery that follows a night of drinking.

 

    "Should we be spending our precious research dollars trying to figure out how to make people who went on a drinking binge feel better? Unless there is some greater good than that, probably not," Wilson said.