Hangover remedy is left hanging

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Hangover remedy is left hanging

City firm convinced odd-tasting concoction works, even if doctors aren’t

By Schroeder

The Journal Gazette

For her last birthday, Rhonda Luckadoo estimated she had between 15 and 20 shots, mostly vodka.

The feat is hardly advisable for anyone, much less a thin woman like Luckadoo. She expected to wake up the next morning with a bad headache to say the least. Instead, she had no hangover at all.

Her secret: N.H.O. a non-caffeinated energy drink marketed by No Hangover Beverage Co. LLC, which is majority owned by a Fort Wayne nightclub owner, Stan Liddell.

Liddell, who owns Piere’s Entertainment Center, said the drink is not meant to encourage people to drink to excess. Unlike other products that make similar claims, it doesn’t reduce the intoxicating effects on alcohol.

A Piere’s employee, Luckadoo said she downed one 8-ounce can of the vitamin and herbal supplement before downing shots while off the clock at the club. Realizing Luckadoo was heavily intoxicated, Liddell offered her two more of the drinks – which sell for $3.25 each – at the end of the night.

“It worked really well,” Luckadoo said.

But a local doctor, who wasn’t familiar with the drink, is skeptical of hangover remedies in general.

“I wouldn’t think that it would be effective,” said Dr. Tom Gutwein, president of the Fort Wayne Medical Society. His skepticism comes from the lack of empirical evidence to support findings for this or other products that claim to eliminate hangovers.

While not denying the value of such studies, Liddell said he was utterly convinced by anecdotal evidence – and a previous pill form of the composition that he has taken himself – that the product works.

In addition to eliminating or significantly reducing hangover symptoms, Liddell makes the bold claim that N.H.O. can cure hepatitis C. At least one local former hepatitis C patient backs up the assertion, but his own doctor doubts it and federal law restricts such promotions from appearing in advertising.

Liddell cites a litany of reasons the product hasn’t taken the drinking world by storm. First, the flavor isn’t universally enticing. Second, the beverage market is saturated with options right now. And, third, Liddell has been focusing on other business pursuits.

To date, No Hangover Beverage Co. has invested between $560,000 to $600,000 in developing the N.H.O., which was first released in 2001.

At its core is a patented composition created by Oslick and Barclay. Barclay is a partner in No Hangover Beverage.

Pokka Beverages in California processes the drink, which contains vitamins and the herbs milk thistle and white willow bark, mostly from China. The mixture is checked for quality by New York-based pharmaceutical and vitamin supplier Infinity Industries.

Ball Corp., based in Broomfield, Colo., a primary manufacturer of energy drink containers, makes the company’s slender cans. The product is warehoused in Auburn.

Only about $125,000 worth of the product has been sold, according to Bret , media director for Piere’s and Liddell Investments LTD. That’s short of the goal to capture 1 to 2 percent of what he characterized as the “new age beverage” and “functional beverage” markets.

“I understand the flavor was part of the hurdle, but I expected more penetration,” said.

Although it has captured the interest of some small distributors and been sold sporadically in various parts of the country, N.H.O. is readily available only at Piere’s. That’s partly by design, he said, as No Hangover Beverage Co. is holding off on heavy promotion and distribution while it tinkers with taste.

“Some people love it, some people hate it,” said.

What now tastes somewhat like a pineapple Pina Colada – at best – should soon have a more palatable citrus flavor. The plan is to try out the new taste formula early next year and then launch an infomercial campaign in test markets around the country by June “at the latest,” said.

Currently, the product’s marketing is mostly a grass-roots affair. At the heart of that, Piere’s gives free samples to national acts that play at the club product and relies on them to sing its good graces.

“The national acts love it. They take cases of it when they leave,” said Sandy Golden, entertainment director at Piere’s.

But not everyone thinks it’s the best thing since Red Bull.

“Nastiest drink I’ve ever seen,” said Ruggles, a Piere’s patron Thursday night. He said it tastes bad too.

N.H.O. is said to work before, after or with alcohol.

But Ruggles still can’t get past the scummy film four cans of the drink left in a five gallon mixed drink three years ago. The potent concoction included several fifths of hard alcohol, beer, about two gallons of Kool-Aid and the N.H.O.

“Honest to God, it looked like someone threw up in our mixed drink, and it didn’t happen,” he said.

About 20 people partook and all had hangovers the next day, said Ruggle’s friend, Sommer. Both said it tasted terrible.

said that typically it takes one to two cans of the drink – depending upon a person’s size – to prevent or eliminate a hangover. Regardless, both men – friends of Luckadoo – are adamant that they will never drink N.H.O. again.

That is unless it tastes good, and provided – of course – it works, Sommer said.

Yet another man is sold on the product regardless of its effects on hangovers or taste.

About five years ago, Kent Green began undergoing treatment for hepatitis C. A year into treatments, he was showing about 80 percent improvement, but he had to be taken off his medication because of the strong side effects. The plan was to restart treatments in about a year.

“Can you imagine having a flu for a year?” he asked rhetorically, describing the side effects. Between pills, injections and check-ups, he estimated he spent around $15,000 to $20,000, if not more, on treatments.

Then he ran into Liddell at Piere’s. Liddell had heard – including from a Naomi Judd testimony on “Larry King Live” – about the potentially healing powers of milk thistle and B vitamins, both ingredients in N.H.O. Judd used both in concert with more conventional treatments for hepatitis C. He offered some to Green.

Green drank two to three cans per day for about a month, and his next hepatitis C tests came up negative. Twice-annual tests since produced the same result, he said.

“It saved my life,” said Green, who had been experiencing heavy night sweats and work-disrupting fatigue when hepatitis C symptoms surfaced about five years ago. He said N.H.O. has even helped rejuvenate the liver which was damages by the virus, and continues to drink a can a week.

Green said his doctor discounted the notion that he was healed by N.H.O. The can bears a disclaimer – required by law – that says the “product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.”

On its Web site, the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, part of the National Institutes of Health, said that scientific studies of milk thistle (scientific name: Silybum marianum) “to date do not definitively find that milk thistle is beneficial in treating hepatitis C in humans.”

It continues, that “studies in laboratory animals suggest that silymarin (the active extract of milk thistle believed to be responsible for the herb’s medicinal qualities) may have various benefits to the liver, such as promoting growth of certain types of liver cells.”

Liddell and Green – who is now the in-house neon designer for Piere’s – remain convinced it has the same type of positive effects for people. Liddell says there are others with hepatitis C who have benefited from the drink.

Once the new taste in place, he hopes this unlikely appeal will help further propel N.H.O.

Both Liddell and think the drink has the potential to capture a higher percentage of the nutrition market share than any other market. N.H.O packs a potent punch, according to its nutritional label. Statements about its contents have not yet been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.

According to those stated supplement facts, it contains 800 percent of the daily recommended vitamin C and 1,420 percent of the daily recommended riboflavin. Many other vitamins and nutrients also exceed 100 percent of daily values, based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

The N.H.O. can cautions consumers not to drink more than three cans a day. In addition, it’s not recommended for pregnant or lactating women or for children. Nor is it promoted as a cure-all.

The label states: “If you have any medical condition, please consult your physician before taking this product.”

http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/news/local/13523852.htm