The Science Behind Dihydromyricetin

I always liked doing the research behind the products we were offering. I wanted to believe in them and not assume we were selling an expensive placebo. PubMed was one of the first bookmarks added if I ever had to upgrade computers.

To my surprise, the first time I looked up DHM there was a plethora of research and studies that had been conducted. Studies ranging from it’s ability to reduce alcohol intoxication and hangovers, its ability to reduce BAC, and its beneficial impact on liver health.

The science made as much sense as it could to someone like myself without a background in biochemistry. There were a couple of glaring benefits as to how it could help someone.

There’s this toxic (never good to hear toxic when referring to our bodies) compound, acetaldehyde, that builds up as our liver breaks down alcohol. Regardless of how quickly you consume alcohol, your liver is only going to be able to break it down at its normal rate. DHM helps us out by breaking down this compound to help avoid those traditional hangover symptoms.

Our liver thinks of alcohol as a major enemy and devotes all of its resources to breaking it down as quickly as possible. By giving the liver a helping hand in breaking down the acetaldehyde, we’re also helping to support our liver’s function by getting things back to normal.

Alcohol isn’t just hitting our liver; it’s also putting a damper on our brain. For most people, there’s a lot going on up there. I say most, because like you all, I’ve met a few people who don’t seem to have a thing going on in their brain.

A few glasses of wine or a beer too many has caused some slurred speech and bad decisions to be made. For me, there are about four years of college where this was the case.

DHM also works to block alcohol’s effect on the brain. One of the main ways alcohol works is by potentiating your brain’s GABA receptors making your brain act as if there is more of the relaxing neurotransmitter GABA present. This is what causes the slurred speech, relaxed inhibitions, and other common signs of drunkenness.

When you take DHM, it reduces the potentiating effect alcohol has on the GABA receptors thus blunting alcohol’s effect on the brain and making you feel more sober than you otherwise would.

Fun fact about drinking alcohol, we go through a little bit of withdrawal every time we stop drinking. When you’re drunk your brain believes it has an excess of GABA, so it starts producing less to compensate. The next morning you will then have less GABA circulating than normal, causing anxiety and headaches. Think of it like pulling back a rubber band that will snap back and sting you in the morning.

DHM’s effect on the brain helps with this since it prevents some alcohol from potentiating the GABA receptors, the rebound effect is reduced the next morning.

But even after reading all of this research I was still skeptical. Who wouldn’t be? A few capsules before bed to make the hangover go away, its too good to be true.