From simple habits like drinking lots of electrolytes to more bizarre techniques like downing a pint of pickle juice there are countless creative hangover-preventing hacks that drinkers around the world swear by. (And hey we're not judging you for having a hard time resisting that perfect margarita or fruity craft beer.) Have you tried the one where you take a shot of olive oil before you drink? On "The Tonight Show" famed record producer Benny Blanco told host Jimmy Fallon that he swears by this hangover-preventing hack. Of course just because a celebrity endorses it doesn't make it true. Still the hack has a lot of fans and there's some truth to it—namely the olive oil slows down digestion.
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The 4 Steps to a Hangover Cure
As Dushan Zaric co-founder of Employees Only told GQ drinking olive oil before you drink can actually help prevent hangovers. Zaric recommends drinking an ounce of cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil which is equal to 2 tablespoons before a night out as the ingredient is supposed to help coat your stomach. When you have a little oil in your stomach it takes longer for your body to absorb the alcohol. It’s the same reason you eat a fatty meal before or during a night of drinking. All that fatty stuff can counteract the negative effects of alcohol by allowing the booze to digest and travel through your stomach more slowly allowing you to prolong your pleasure just a little bit longer.
While there are some benefits to this hack you shouldn’t rely on it to stay awake all night. It’s true that you can experience positive effects from drinking olive oil before drinking but it’s not guaranteed to work for everyone. As registered dietitian Megan Huff shared with People only 20% of alcohol is digested in your stomach while the other 80% is absorbed by your intestines before eventually being metabolized in your liver. So from a scientific standpoint this hack might not do much since the alcohol isn’t spending much time in your stomach anyway.
Still it might be worth a try as many people like Benny Blanco swear it really works. And as Huff shared olive oil’s beneficial antioxidants have the potential to reduce inflammation (and thus some common hangover symptoms). As usual the effects really do vary from person to person so while some love this trick others claim it doesn’t work for them. So while there’s not much solid scientific evidence to back it up yet this olive oil trick might be something to try for yourself.
