Effect of Glutathione on Blood Alcohol and Hangover Symptoms

Glutathione (a tripeptide of 3 amino acids - glutamic acid, cysteine and glycine) plays a great role in homeostasis, especially as a potent anti-oxidant. As an anti-oxidant, it conjugates with xenobiotics using glutathione-S-transferase (GST) and excretes in urine as mercapturic acid. In 1986, Casciani et al at the University of Milan, studied the effect of glutathione on blood alcohol, acetaldehyde and hepatic triglyceride levels and found a significant reducing effect. The blood acetaldehyde, which is the metabolic product of ethyl alcohol may have a correlation with hangover symptoms. This study is designed to find this correlation using blood alcohol, blood acetaldehyde levels and the Hangover Symptoms Scale according to the Slutske et al study.