Lifeline Tablets

mcwhirter

Hi anyone else used these tablets to prevent hangovers?

I have to say that for me they work. I do not drink an awful lot but when I do have a few drinks I tend to get terrble hangovers.
After taking these however, I still have the tiredness in the morning but don't have the sick feeling, headaches or sensitivity to bright lights and noise.

DeVore

I actually met the guy who invented it (a chemist). He gave me a few satchets but I left them by the bed. One night I ended up on the unmerciful rip and was completely plastered getting into bed when I realised I had a meeting at about 10am the next morning so before bed I thought "I'll do anything to avoid a hangover for that meeting" and took a satchet with water.
I have to say, it worked for me. I'm not sure its all about the powder since you are told to drink a pint of water with them but for me, they worked that time. Havent had the need to use them since and your mileage may vary but they worked for me.

DeV.

StroppySu

Am I It's not powder it's tablets that you take with your first drink isnt it?

Or am I thinking of something completely different?!

mcwhirter

DeVore wrote: »

I actually met the guy who invented it (a chemist). He gave me a few satchets but I left them by the bed. One night I ended up on the unmerciful rip and was completely plastered getting into bed when I realised I had a meeting at about 10am the next morning so I thought "I'll do anything to avoid a hangover for that meeting" and took a satchet with water.
I have to say, it worked for me. I'm not sure its all about the powder since you are told to drink a pint of water with them but for me, they worked that time. Havent had the need to use them since and your mileage may vary but they worked for me.

DeV.

The instructions on the packet say they should be 'taken within one hour of you first drink'.
One morning I took them as forgot to take them the previous night and they had no affect, I still felt awful.

DeVore

Sorry, I confused you, I took them the night before and when I got them they were satchets of powder but I have seen them in pill format too...

DeV.

AtomicHorror

DeVore wrote: »

I actually met the guy who invented it (a chemist). He gave me a few satchets but I left them by the bed. One night I ended up on the unmerciful rip and was completely plastered getting into bed when I realised I had a meeting at about 10am the next morning so I thought "I'll do anything to avoid a hangover for that meeting" and took a satchet with water.
I have to say, it worked for me. I'm not sure its all about the powder since you are told to drink a pint of water with them but for me, they worked that time. Havent had the need to use them since and your mileage may vary but they worked for me.

DeV.

Thing is, hangovers sometimes go away by themselves quicker than expected and water is claimed to help by itself. As far as I know, there's no evidence that Lifeline works at all. And I think that the packets don't actually make the claim that they do, which is not a good sign!

I think the British Medical Journal did a review of various claimed hangover remedies and found that the only thing that prevents hangovers is failing to drink alcohol. The rest was just attributed to chance.

ImDave

The Lifeline tables contain a small amount of activated charcoal/carbon, which is a substance used to treat incidents of oral ingestion of poisons/toxins, like cases of overdose. The charcoal basically binds with the toxin, supposedly reducing the levels of that toxin which is absorbed in the GI tract. From what I have heard, the amount of activated charcoal in the lifeline tables is nowhere near that of what would be sufficient to prevent the absorption of substantial amounts of alcohol.

DrIndy

There might be something though in the salts it contains - alcohol has a direct effect on the kidney increasing magnesium excretion which is part of the hangover cascade.

Hmmmmm.....

Anyone got details on the incipients? Papers?

AtomicHorror

ImDave wrote: »

The Lifeline tables contain a small amount of activated charcoal/carbon, which is a substance used to treat incidents of oral ingestion of poisons/toxins, like cases of overdose. The charcoal basically binds with the toxin, supposedly reducing the levels of that toxin which is absorbed in the GI tract. From what I have heard, the amount of activated charcoal in the lifeline tables is nowhere near that of what would be sufficient to prevent the absorption of substantial amounts of alcohol.

If they actually worked that way wouldn't they also act to reduce intoxication rather than negating the the hangover specifically?

DeVore

Presumeably it has something to do with rehydration as I understand its the dehydration which brings on the effects of a "hangover".

DeV.

ImDave

AtomicHorror wrote: »

If they actually worked that way wouldn't they also act to reduce intoxication rather than negating the the hangover specifically?

Absolutely, the activated carbon would reduce the blood alcohol concentration in the first instance, therefore reducing the effects of alcohol toxicity resulting from excessive consumption. The thing is however, they don't seem to do that, so there must be very little activated carbon actually contained within the product.

From Wikipedia:

Ingestion of activated carbon prior to consumption of ethanol has been shown to reduce absorption of alcohol into the blood. 5 to 15 milligrams of charcoal per kilogram of body weight taken at the same time as 170 ml of pure ethanol (which equals about 10 servings of an alcoholic beverage alcohol, or 17 shots), over the course of one hour, has very apparent effects at reducing potential blood alcohol content