A sobering thought... cure a hangover with hormones

WE have all sorts of cures for a hangover, from the most complicated concoctions to simply going back to bed.

Now scientists have come up with a solution which might stop you drinking in the first place – a scarysounding hormone injection.

When tested on mice plied with an alcohol substitute, it halved the time they took to recover.

The fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) hormone – produced naturally in the livers of humans and animals – helps break down alcohol quickly.

Scientists at the University of Texas Southwestern in the US gave mice a dose of ethanol equivalent to a human alcohol binge.

The animals lost their ‘righting reflex’ – the ability to balance when intoxicated. Mice not given FGF21 took longer to get it back.

In another experiment, the mice were intoxicated to the point of being unconscious and then gave them FGF21. This reduced the time they took to recover the reflex by an hour and a half.

Study co-author Steven Kliewer said the results showed FGF21 injections ‘can dramatically accelerate recovery from intoxication’.