The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
My aching head
Yale seniors believe they developed a cure for the hangover
NEW HAVEN >> When Yale University seniors Liam McClintock and Margaret Morse embarked on finding a cure to stave off a hangover, what they really sought was a new tool for their toolbox.
They wanted a supplement that would let them be social — maybe toss a couple back with friends on Temple Street — without completely crippling their ability to work the next morning. McClintock is a history major with an interest in business, while Morse is a molecular, cellular and developmental biology major.
“I like to be social, but I also like to get up early and work,” McClintock said. “The idea was to create a hangover supplement.”
The two began their quest for a cure by ordering various supplements and seeing what worked and what didn’t. They eventually developed their own formula, testing it themselves before getting friends to try its potency.
“Their feedback was really encouraging,” McClintock said. “We would have people we didn’t even know asking us… if they could try the product.”
The supplement now has a name, SunUp, and a pharmaceutical company’s backing to help manufacture the product. McClintock, who requested the company’s name be withheld due to liability concerns, said it could take the manufacturer about 5 to 8 weeks to produce their product.
The two paid an initial down payment out-ofpocket to begin the supplement’s manufacturing. They launched an Indiegogo crowd-sourcing funding page last month to raise money to produce a minimum production run of SunUp.
“A lot of other products you usually take after drinking,” Morse said. “That wound has already happened; you’re just sticking a Band-Aid…. a lot of other products only address two or so of the main causes, while ours addresses all four.”
The supplement works by addressing four root hangover causes, which include acetaldehyde building, vitamin and electrolyte loss, glutamine rebound and immunological disturbances. This is according to a detailed, self-published research paper authored by McClintock. The paper also discusses the possibility that a hangover cure may encourage more alcohol consumption, which they argue is unlikely based on studies.
State Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services spokeswoman Diana Lejardi said she couldn’t comment directly on the supplement, but added that it’s important not to “encourage binge drinking.”
“The negative consequences help prevent the behavior,” Lejardi said. “By reducing these negative consequences, it could encourage binge drinking.”
The supplement helps avoid a hangover by working while and after a person is done drinking, the two creators said. It combines 15 ingredients (listed in the products Indiegogo page and including vitamins, Mung bean powder, and substances from broccoli and green tea extract) that Morse said research suggests increase alcohol clearance in the body. The supplement improves the liver’s ability to break down alcohol’s by-products while also providing ingredients replenishing the body’s nutrients.
A person would need to take the product about an hour before drinking by pouring the supplement in about 8 to 12 ounces of water. The co-founders said this technique puts their product ahead of other similar products, most of which people take after they drink and while already suffering from hangover effects.
While the supplement addresses post-intoxication effects, McClintock said it does not affect the intoxication feeling itself.
Another way the two believe their product is different from others is theirs is based on extensive research. They developed the product with help from Yale professors. The two hand-selected what ingredients to include in the supplement based on the research they read, they said.
The two co-founders are interested in online, direct-to-consumer sales, but are also interested in talking to local liquor shops or groceries about sell- ing their product on their shelves.
McClintock, a member of the university’s Division I squash team, cred- ited the Yale Entrepreneurial Institute with helping foster their project. They’ve also received help from Yale alumni, including one who helped file a provisional patent for the product pro-bono.
“The Yale community has been really supportive,” McClintock said. “I think none of this would have been possible without the support from Yale and the support of Yale alumni.”