New Fizzy Tablet May End Hangovers
Reporting: Angela Davis (WCCO)
With the holiday season about to get into full swing, many of you will be heading off to parties and family gatherings. If you've ever had too much to drink at a special occasion, then you'll be thrilled to hear what a Minnesota business is now producing.
The owner of a Plymouth company called Amerilab Technologies, and a University of Minnesota researcher have teamed up with a Chinese scientist to create a new all-natural remedy for a hangover.
Fred Wehling says he was on a business trip to China when he discovered men there had a clever way of dealing with hangovers.
They were grinding up wild guava leaves in a blender and drinking the concoction to prevent headaches and queasiness. That's where Wehling got the idea for what's now called Drinkin' Mate.
Wehling showed me some photos of what is now his guava tree farm in southwest China. A few years ago, he and a scientist buddy put their heads together to find a way to make a hangover medication that's easy to take and tastes good.
Dr. Arnold Leonard, a former professor of surgery and researcher at the University of Minnesota, helped them piece together the scientific evidence that it works.
It's an effervescent tablet that you drop in a glass of water before, during or after drinking alcohol. The creators tested it on Minnesota college students and people in their late 30s and early 40s.
Eighty-two percent of those in the focus groups say it worked. There was no headache, no queasy stomach, no dehydration.
"It sounds like fairy dust, but it is not a 3 a.m. infomercial on cable TV. It works for I'd say three out of four people. It really does work. Literally if people take a tablet at the end of the night, assuming they have not been drinking for twelve hours, they will wake up the next morning a little bit thirsty, and have a tinge of a headache, that's it."
Here's the scientific explanation of why the remedy should work. The manufacturers say it's the high level of antioxidants found in guava leaf extract. It improves the body's ability to stay hydrated. Then the effervescent nature of Drinkin' Mate -- you know, the bubbliness -- neutralizes hydrochloric acid to reduce stomach queasiness. And if the stomach lining is protected, then the nerve signals that trigger headaches are eliminated.
"The nutrients and antioxidants are actually pumped into the body within 20 minutes and once they are in the bloodstream they protect the cells from free radicals. Alcohol is just not good for the body. It attacks all your organs," Wehling said.
Drinkin' Mate hit store shelves for the first time last week. The creators started selling it at Holiday gas stations. Beginning this week you can find it in Byerly's and Lund's stores.
"We are slowly getting it into the market. The trick is to get people to try it. And once they try it, I anticipate 75 percent of them will come back and buy it again," Wehling said.
A packet of two tablets costs $3.99 and the packet of six costs $9.99.
From: http://wcco.com/consumer/drinkin.mate.hangover.2.596640.html
Reporting: Angela Davis (WCCO)
With the holiday season about to get into full swing, many of you will be heading off to parties and family gatherings. If you've ever had too much to drink at a special occasion, then you'll be thrilled to hear what a Minnesota business is now producing.
The owner of a Plymouth company called Amerilab Technologies, and a University of Minnesota researcher have teamed up with a Chinese scientist to create a new all-natural remedy for a hangover.
Fred Wehling says he was on a business trip to China when he discovered men there had a clever way of dealing with hangovers.
They were grinding up wild guava leaves in a blender and drinking the concoction to prevent headaches and queasiness. That's where Wehling got the idea for what's now called Drinkin' Mate.
Wehling showed me some photos of what is now his guava tree farm in southwest China. A few years ago, he and a scientist buddy put their heads together to find a way to make a hangover medication that's easy to take and tastes good.
Dr. Arnold Leonard, a former professor of surgery and researcher at the University of Minnesota, helped them piece together the scientific evidence that it works.
It's an effervescent tablet that you drop in a glass of water before, during or after drinking alcohol. The creators tested it on Minnesota college students and people in their late 30s and early 40s.
Eighty-two percent of those in the focus groups say it worked. There was no headache, no queasy stomach, no dehydration.
"It sounds like fairy dust, but it is not a 3 a.m. infomercial on cable TV. It works for I'd say three out of four people. It really does work. Literally if people take a tablet at the end of the night, assuming they have not been drinking for twelve hours, they will wake up the next morning a little bit thirsty, and have a tinge of a headache, that's it."
Here's the scientific explanation of why the remedy should work. The manufacturers say it's the high level of antioxidants found in guava leaf extract. It improves the body's ability to stay hydrated. Then the effervescent nature of Drinkin' Mate -- you know, the bubbliness -- neutralizes hydrochloric acid to reduce stomach queasiness. And if the stomach lining is protected, then the nerve signals that trigger headaches are eliminated.
"The nutrients and antioxidants are actually pumped into the body within 20 minutes and once they are in the bloodstream they protect the cells from free radicals. Alcohol is just not good for the body. It attacks all your organs," Wehling said.
Drinkin' Mate hit store shelves for the first time last week. The creators started selling it at Holiday gas stations. Beginning this week you can find it in Byerly's and Lund's stores.
"We are slowly getting it into the market. The trick is to get people to try it. And once they try it, I anticipate 75 percent of them will come back and buy it again," Wehling said.
A packet of two tablets costs $3.99 and the packet of six costs $9.99.
From: http://wcco.com/consumer/drinkin.mate.hangover.2.596640.html
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