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Americans turn to diarrhoea medicine to cure hangovers

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Everyone has their own cure for the morning after the night before.

Be it "hair of the dog", a greasy breakfast or that old standby, black coffee.

In the US, Americans desperate to cure their hangovers are turning to children's diarrhoea medicine.

The medicine, Pedialyte, has been hailed as an effective cure.

The brand was previously a steady seller. But since 2012, sales increased by 57 per cent.

Originally targeted at children, Pedialyte is supposed to replenish vital minerals and fluids lost after a bout of diarrhea.

Adults looking for that magical hangover cure have repurposed the medicine.

They take it the morning after a night of boozing to rid themselves of the lingering headaches and nausea.

And the company behind themedicine has latched on to take advantage of this new, unexpected market.

Adverts now sell a powdered version primarily as a hangover cure.

 

 

In one such ad, Pedialyte was included in a list of must-haves for music festivals to ease them from the suffering the next morning.

In another ad, the medicine is recommended to those who want to get in time for an early appointment after a late night.

 

It even has its own celebrity fans.

Super stars like Miley Cyrus and Pharrell Williams have endorsed it as a hangover cure.

In fact, it is so important to Pharrell that he has it included in his rider, 

 

 

The perfect rider...candy, Pedialyte and Carl Sagan.

A photo posted by Pharrell Williams (@pharrell) on Apr 19, 2013 at 1:53pm PDT

 

But some scientists are far from convinced and say that there is not guaranteed cure to an alcohol-inflicted head.

Professor Stansley Goldfarb of Perelman School of Medicine, Pennsylvania told Slate that hangovers are cause by alcohol byproducts in the body

“There’s nothing you can do to remove (these) byproducts. They have to be metabolized by your liver, which takes time."

Prof Goldfarb's best cure?

"There’s no evidence that anything is better than waiting.”

 

Source: The Independent, Slate

 

united statesdiarrhoeamedicinehealthUncategorisedalcoholpharrellmiley cyrus