During an episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon this month, Benny Blanco said he always drinks olive oil before drinking to stop him from getting a hangover.
It’s gone viral online as the latest hangover hack, so we asked a nutrition expert whether it actually works – don’t rush to buy some olive oil before your next night out!
Benny Blanco’s olive oil tip
“My friend Nino taught me this,” the singer said. “These old guys from Italy came in. They said, ‘Before you drink, you take a shot of this, you can’t get hungover. Impossible’.”
Blanco then swigged a shot of olive oil with the chat show host live on TV, followed by a glass of red wine.
Nutrition expert debunks hack
We spoke to nutrition expert Dr. Chris Rhodes, who said: “The long and short of it is no, olive oil will not be able to prevent a hangover.”
“Hangovers are a multifaceted condition caused by the far reaching negative effects of alcohol consumption that include problems from dehydration to inflammation, brain damage to liver function,” he explained.
However, the main reason why you feel rough the next day is because during digestion, alcohol is converted into a toxic compound called acetaldehyde which produces the negative effects like headaches and nausea.
“Since we have to convert alcohol into acetaldehyde to digest and metabolize it, it’s impossible for any one substance to truly prevent a hangover and most hangover ‘cures’ are really just trying to treat the underlying symptoms of the damage caused by acetaldehyde and alcohol as a whole,” Rhodes added.
Drinking olive oil before drinking alcohol is popular in Mediterranean cultures and the idea stems from trying to “coat” the stomach and create a protective barrier that prevents alcohol absorption – but this isn’t actually possible.
“It’s impossible to coat the stomach in an oil layer as our body produces digestive enzymes and acids that begin to break down fats as soon as we consume them. Plus, the majority of alcohol consumption doesn’t even take place in the stomach, but rather the small intestines,” the expert explained.
Only around 20% of the alcohol we consume is absorbed from the stomach, while the remaining amount is absorbed and digested in the small intestines, so even if we could coat the stomach in oil, it would only delay absorption but not prevent it from happening.
The best hangover ‘cure’
Rhodes’ favorite hangover “cure” is to eat a big bowl of ramen with pork chasu and veggies.
“While it may seem weird to have ramen first thing in the morning after drinking, it has all the components needed to treat a hangover,” he said.
The broth is rich with electrolytes, the colorful veggies are packed with antioxidants, the pork is loaded with B3 and the noodles are easy to digest.
This all combines into a perfect meal to help you “bounce back and get your day back on track,” he claimed.
Dr. Chris Rhodes is a nutrition expert who gained his degree in Biochemistry from Loyola Marymount University and PhD in Nutritional Biochemistry from the University of California.
