Elotrans: Are Electrolytes a Miracle Cure for Hangovers?
Created: 08/18/2022, 12:12 p.m
By: Nicholas Kirk
To avoid alcohol-related hangovers, more and more people are turning to electrolyte solutions.
However, their effectiveness is still controversial.
Frankfurt – In the middle of a summer, with open bars, discotheques and concerts and festivals taking place again, it is indispensable for most people: alcohol.
In order to prevent the unwanted side effects the next morning, more and more people swear by supposed miracle cures that are supposed to eliminate hangovers.
A quick internet search leads searchers to products that promise to use electrolytes to relieve revelers of their self-inflicted ailments like fatigue, nausea and headaches.
Elotrans for hangovers: as a diarrhea remedy against the alcohol blues?
One product stands out from the range, the original purpose of which was to combat diarrheal diseases: Elotrans.
The manufacturer Stada has long recognized its popularity and flirted with the image as an anti-hangover remedy in social media posts.
The supposed formula for success follows the same logic for the products: the minerals that are removed from the body through alcohol consumption - which also include electrolytes such as sodium - are returned in concentrated form.
A powder is dissolved in water and drunk.
Elotrans works according to the same loss-compensation principle for diarrheal diseases.
One thing is certain: in order to be able to function normally, the fluid level in the body must not fluctuate too much.
In addition, electrolytes such as sodium, potassium, chloride and bicarbonate also help stabilize water balance regulation.
If you look at the ingredients of Elotrans, three of the four electrolytes mentioned are represented, which should speak for a positive effect of Elotrans.
Elotrans as a remedy for hangovers?
Scientists disagree on effectiveness
However, experts disagree on its effectiveness.
"In the case of diarrhea, important minerals are flushed out of the body." Elotrans contains the most important electrolytes such as sodium, potassium or chloride ions.
The body needs this in order to function, otherwise you feel weak, pharmacist Florian Schwarz is quoted as saying in the
Augsburger Allgemeine
.
Schwarz cannot confirm that Elotrans works with alcohol intoxication, even if he suspects it.
In fact, it's still not clear what the causal factors behind a hangover are.
There are “various hypotheses” about this, as Wolf-Dietrich Braunwarth, specialist in neurology and psychiatry,
explained to the
Süddeutsche Zeitung .
"The most plausible is that when we drink alcohol, we excrete more liquid than we take in." So the body becomes dehydrated and the symptoms develop.
The culprit is a hormone that leads to increased water excretion, which the body cannot compensate for without the appropriate water intake.
Another hypothesis sees the reason in the alcohol itself or in one of the degradation products.
Causes a lack of electrolytes in the body: Excessive alcohol consumption.
© Robert Michael/dpa-Zentralbild/dpa/Symbolbild
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Elotrans: Misuse is met with criticism – there are also alternatives to the diarrhea remedy for hangovers
The popularity of Elotrans, despite the lack of scientific evidence of its effectiveness, has been unbroken in recent months, so that it is no longer available in many regions of Germany.
The granules are urgently needed by many people.
Christine Waibel, owner of a pharmacy in Augsburg, points
out the dangers for children and infants in the
Augsburger Allgemeine .
In the event of diarrhea with a simultaneous lack of the electrolyte mixture, these would often have to be treated in the emergency room in order to restore the fluid balance.
Whether Elotrans helps to prevent hangovers, or at least the placebo effect, it can be assumed that the popularity of hangover prevention will not disappear anytime soon.
In order to prevent bottlenecks in important medicines, reference can be made to a recommendation by the World Health Organization (WHO) for diarrheal diseases.
The recipe for the drinking solution against diarrhea is: salt, sugar, orange juice and water.
Maybe it also helps against hangover symptoms.
Excessive alcohol consumption should not be underestimated, however, because it can have fatal consequences for your health - just one glass a day is enough.
Alcohol can also increase the risk of cancer.
(nki)
