Effect of Opuntia ficus indica on Symptoms of the Alcohol Hangover

Background: The severity of the alcohol hangover may be related to inflammation induced by impurities in the alcohol beverage and byproducts of alcohol metabo-lism. An extract of the Opuntia ficus indica (OFI) plant diminishes the inflammatory response to stressful stimuli. Methods: In this double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over trial, 64 healthy, young adult volunteers were ran-domly assigned to receive OFI (1600 IU) and identical placebo, given 5 hours before alcohol consumption. Dur-ing 4 hours, subjects consumed up to 1.75 g of alcohol per kilogram of body weight. Hangover severity (9 symp-toms) and overall well-being were assessed on a scale (0-6), and blood and urine samples were obtained the fol-lowing morning. Two weeks later, the study protocol was repeated with OFI and placebo reversed