Most "hangover cures" have never been tested on an actual hangover
Search "hangover cure" and you'll find electrolyte powders, greasy breakfasts, and supplements built around a single compound with a promising lab result. Almost none of them have been tested the way medicine actually gets tested: give people alcohol, give some of them the remedy, and measure what happens the next day.
Korean pear juice has. In 2013, a team of researchers published a study in the journal Food and Chemical Toxicology that did exactly that — and it's the reason Korean pear juice (the base of every pouch of Gush) has a real, citable claim to the hangover conversation.
The setup
Fourteen healthy young men took part in a randomized, single-blind, crossover trial. Each participant drank alcohol on two separate occasions — once with Korean pear (Pyrus pyrifolia cv. Shingo) juice beforehand, once without. Researchers measured hangover severity using a validated 14-item symptom scale, tracking things like headache, nausea, fatigue, and memory.
What they found
- Total hangover severity was reduced by 16% when participants drank pear juice before alcohol.
- Average hangover severity — how bad any single symptom felt — dropped by 21%.
- Blood alcohol levels were significantly lower in the pear juice group (p < 0.01).
- Blood acetaldehyde — the toxic byproduct most researchers believe actually causes hangover symptoms — was also reduced.
One more detail worth knowing: the benefit wasn't identical for everyone. Participants with certain ALDH2 gene variants saw bigger improvements in memory and light/sound sensitivity than others. We dig into what that means in a separate piece on the ALDH2 gene — it's a real, interesting wrinkle, not a footnote to bury.
What this means for a pouch of Gush
This is the study behind the idea, and it's also why timing matters. The trial tested pear juice consumed before drinking, not the morning after — exactly how Gush is meant to be used: one pouch before your first drink, not as a hangover-day rescue.
The honest caveat
Fourteen participants is a small sample, and this is one trial, not a body of a hundred studies. We'd rather say that plainly than oversell it. What makes it worth building a product around isn't that it's the final word — it's that it's a real, peer-reviewed, human trial in a category mostly built on marketing copy and in-vitro promises.
Curious how the pear actually pulls this off at the enzyme level? Read ADH and ALDH: the two enzymes that decide how bad tomorrow feels.
Source: Lee, H.S., Isse, T., Kawamoto, T., Baik, H.W., Park, J.Y., & Yang, M. (2013). Effect of Korean pear (Pyrus pyrifolia cv. Shingo) juice on hangover severity following alcohol consumption. Food and Chemical Toxicology.