Can You Prevent a Hangover With Vitamin B Complex?

Drinking too much alcohol can make you feel rotten the next morning, causing a headache, nausea, fatigue, and a nasty case of cotton mouth. Aside from not drinking at all, your best choice is to indulge responsibly, but you can also engage in some effective damage control the morning after you drink a little too much.

Some companies offer products claiming to prevent or relieve hangovers completely, including B12 shots. However, alcohol interferes with the absorption of B vitamins and depletes them from your system. Taking B vitamins before drinking will not help you avoid a hangover.

Understanding What Causes a Hangover

Hangovers are the result of alcohol’s many effects on your body, according to Mayo Clinic:

• Alcohol is a diuretic that makes you pee more. As a result, drinking too much of it results in dehydration. You might feel very thirsty, tired, dizzy, and lightheaded, or you may have a headache. These are all possible dehydration symptoms.
• Alcohol triggers an immune response. This causes the immune system to make substances that cause the symptoms of illness, like brain fog, appetite loss, and reduced interest in your favorite activities.
• Alcohol irritates the stomach lining. This can cause the familiar belly pain, nausea, or vomiting of a hangover.
• Alcohol can cause low blood glucose. This can lead to tiredness, weakness, and shakiness, as well as mood changes. Some people may even experience seizures due to low blood glucose during a hangover.
• Alcohol disrupts sleep. It can act as a block that prevents the kind of sleep that recharges your brain, as well as making it more likely that you wake up during the night or early morning. You might feel tired or groggy as a result.
• Alcohol contains congeners. These ingredients give alcohol its aroma and flavor, and dark liquors like bourbon contain more. These are more likely to worsen or trigger a hangover than alcohol that doesn’t contain congeners, but any type of alcohol can cause a hangover.

The only confirmed way to prevent a hangover is to avoid alcohol consumption. Consuming less alcohol reduces the risk of a hangover if you choose to drink it.

Does Alcohol Use Affect B Vitamins?

A review suggests that heavy or binge drinking can interfere with the pathways that allow vitamins to enter your system. As such, it can affect how many B vitamins your body can absorb. The review cites vitamins B1, B2, B7, B9, and B12 as those that heavy alcohol use might impact.

Over time, chronic alcohol use can damage the gut, according to Cleveland Clinic. In turn, this may lead to vitamin B12 deficiency.

Effective Ways to Avoid a Hangover

No evidence supports the claim that B vitamins can prevent a hangover. For example, a study published in 2020 found that a multivitamin containing B vitamins didn’t show a statistically significant association with reduced risk of hangover symptoms in its sample.

Taking a large dose before drinking does not help stave off a hangover, as alcohol can reduce your absorption of B vitamins. However, you can try several other steps to reduce your risk of a hangover:

• Avoid alcoholic beverages altogether. This is the only confirmed way to prevent a hangover.
• Make sure you eat before a night of drinking. A meal centered on carbohydrates such as whole grains, pasta, or bread is a good idea because they help slow alcohol absorption. Adding fruit can help hydrate you.
• Your body can process approximately one drink per hour, so take it slow when you're imbibing.
• Alternate between alcoholic beverages and either water or soft drinks to help avoid becoming intoxicated.
• Stick with clear alcohols such as gin, vodka, white rum, or white wine that don’t contain congeners. You can still get a hangover, but these make it less likely than darker liquors like brandy, red wine, or bourbon.
• Know your limits, and stick to a set amount of drinks that you know from experience doesn’t make you feel rough the next day.

Best Vitamins For a Hangover

While many companies tout supposed miracle cures on the market, no B-12 hangover cure or prevention has proof of safety or effectiveness, including B-12 shots.

According to Cleveland Clinic, the only real hangover cure is time. Most hangovers clear up in 8 to 24 hours. However, you can try certain approaches to relieve the symptoms:

• Drink plenty of water. You can also try hydrating with electrolyte beverages like Gatorade, broth, or other non-alcoholic drinks. Avoid treating a hangover with more alcohol, as this is likely to worsen it.
• Have a nap or go back to sleep to manage fatigue.
• Use over-the-counter remedies like antacids to help your stomach settle or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like aspirin or ibuprofen for headaches. Avoid acetaminophen (Tylenol) as this can harm your liver if you still have alcohol in your system.
• Eating bland, carb-rich foods like crackers, bread, or pasta can help bring your blood sugar levels up without upsetting your stomach.

Light exercise — like a good, long walk — combined with aggressive hydration can also help speed your recovery time along.

Read More: 17 of the Best Hangover Cures and Remedies