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Ed Yeates ReportingIt’s just what every drinker has dreamed of - a pill that eliminates hangovers, perhaps even the long-term toxic sideeffects of alcohol. But can it really do all its maker is claiming?
The new product is called Notox. It's an over-the-counter food supplement pill you would down before downing alcohol.
What's the recipe? Notox combines orange extracts and ginseng to speed up the metabolism of alcohol in the body. By doing so, the manufacturer claims the product eliminates unwanted toxic side effects associated with drinking. No hangover the next day, and no dangerous complications over the long haul.
Women may find the pill inviting since by the very nature of their own metabolism, the effects of alcohol stay longer with them than with men.
Cynthia Pickett, Social Drinker: "Thirty minutes before I go out, I take the Notox and then I just proceed with my evening as I do normally. And I feel good all evening and the next day I wake up and feel great."
But with the product's claims come a lot of red flags tonight. One of two addiction psychiatrists in Salt Lake warn the product is an over the counter dietary supplement not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration. They're skeptical of what it really can do.
Dr. Michael Measom with the University of Utah and Valley Mental Health also worries about how a product like this might lull a drinker into a false sense of security.
Michael Measom, M.D., Psychiatrist, Valley Mental Health: "The inherent danger is a good ten percent of the population are at risk or at some point will meet the criteria for alcohol problems; and these people are going to make that risk greater if they think they can take a pill that will ameliorate those problems, because it's not just going to happen."
A study on Notox does appear in the International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology, but Dr. Measom and his colleagues do not consider that a front-line peer review scientific journal.
