To be clear, I’m not doubting the effectiveness of pickle juice as a cure for hangover. From personal experience it’s the best way to get over it, second only to sleeping through it. I just don’t get how it helps.
In: Biology
A hangover is in part an effect of dehydration. Drinking alcohol results in increased urine production and it will remove water from your body.
So drinking water helps because it reduces dehydration and makes you feel better.
For pickle juice, the explanation you see is that it contains electrolytes like the sodium you have in regular salt. The urine production and drinking can cause electrolyte imbalance and you replenish it from the pickle juice.
The problem is that there there is not a lot of evidence that it changes the levels of electrolytes in the body, there is also not a lot of evidence that electrolyte imbalance is a significant part of a hangover.
[https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/pickle-juice-hangover](https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/pickle-juice-hangover)
So it is quite reasonable that pickle juice help just like if you would during the water and the electrolytes might help. There is just anecdotal evidence that it is better than water.
There is another factor and that is the taste of pickle juice. You find it described as a refreshing taste and especially if you do not like the taste drinking some of it might make you feel more awake than if you just drink water.
Something has good evidence that is work is drinking water. Drink water between a drink or drink a relative large amount before you get to bet.
Eating food can help to so breakfast is likely a lot better than just pickle juice.
Slightly unrelated, but for a more agreeable flavour, chop up some Cucumber, and put it a Glass of water in the fridge overnight. In the morning it’s a great hangover cure. I guess it works on the electrolyte premise in the same way to pickle juice.
1 word and a longer explanation. Electrolytes
So your body is trying to process the alcohol in your system and the best way to do that is through your liver. Well the process takes up A LOT of water and minerals in your system. (Thoes minerals are Electrolytes btw) so. Now you are dehydrated and your body cannot process like it should and it Needs help
Pickle juice has lots of Electrolytes and water in it. Your body cannot just absorb water itself ( it’s why you should not drink deionized water) it needs Electrolytes and minerals to absorb, so if the drink has the minerals in it already, then the body can absorb the nutrients and water faster, thus helping your hangover.
A big part of hangovers are being dehydrated. pickle juice has a lot of salt and minerals, so it works like extremely bad gatorade, (with the bad/strong taste being sort of psychological that if it tastes so strongly that it must be doing something more than just a nice tasting drink)
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