PILLS HELP RECOVERY BUT LADS WORSE OFF

SCIENTISTS have found a miracle hangover cure – but it only works for women.

N-acetylcysteine, a supplement you can buy off the shelf in shops, protects the liver from heavy drinking sessions. However, tests showed blokes felt worse than normal after a few bevvies.

Volunteers supped a 5.2% ABV Belgian-style wheat ale and breathalysed after each bottle. When their blood alcohol content reading reached 0.1% – the drink-drive limit is 0.08% – they stopped drinking.

Those who managed seven or more beers were given three NAC pills, those on four to six got two and participants who managed three or fewer had one.

They then had a night’s sleep and were asked how they felt the next day – on a scale from “feel like I did not drink” to “so hungover I might die”.

Women felt three-and-a-half times better than those who took placebo pills, but the men reported feeling worse.

Researchers from St Luke’s University Health Network in Pennsylvania, US, said: “When excessive amounts of ethanol are consumed the liver is unable to effectively break it down. As glutathione stores diminish, the patient must wait for the liver to make more, a process that can take eight to 24 hours.

“Since NAC is a precursor to glutathione, it has the potential to decrease oxidative stress on the liver during ethanol degradation.”

They tested the supplement after seeing how it is already used to benefit asthmatics and people with cystic fibrosis.