A German court ruled this week that a hangover is an “illness” — just days into the boozy annual Oktoberfest celebration in Munich.
The ruling, made in Frankfurt state court Monday, was part of a verdict against a food supplement distributor offering “shots” and powders marketed as “anti-hangover” products, Deutsche Welle reported.
The unidentified distributor’s marketing, according to the ruling, violated a ban on promoting food and drinks as able to prevent, treat or heal illnesses.
In order to protect public health, the word “illness” should be defined broadly, the judges determined.
The term must encompass “any, even a slight or temporary, disruption of the body’s normal condition or normal activity,” a court statement said.
Those “disruptions” include tiredness, nausea and headaches resulting from alcohol consumption — all of which the distributor unlawfully claimed its product could alleviate, according to Deutsche Welle.
With Post wires