Assuming that Dry January has already proved too big an ask for some readers, thoughts turn to the much-discussed subject of hangover cures. Bertie Wooster consumed a version of the prairie oyster: raw egg, Worcestershire sauce, red pepper. Ernest Hemingway drank “between three and five” absinthe and champagne cocktails the morning after the night before. Kingsley Amis’s preferred hair of the dog was hot Bovril and vodka, aka the Polish Bison. James Bond’s go-to pick-me-up was brandy, soda and aspirin.
Other old-schoolers swear by a full English. Among more health-conscious — albeit premeditated — boozers, the pre-indulgence, antihangover supplement is growing in popularity. A pint of water before bed has its advocates. And of course, for those lucky enough to enjoy a leisured existence, sleep remains the best antidote.
But what if there were no need for a cure because the drink that had made the night such fun had no alcohol in it? And therefore none of the toxins which make you feel ghastly while your body battles to break them down? And what if that drink enabled you to maintain the sweet spot, where conviviality meets enhanced confidence, without ever propelling you into the excessive disinhibition that gets you arrested or humiliated on social media? Such a holy grail is what David Nutt, professor of neuropsychopharmacology at Imperial College, claims to have developed.
Sentia, as he brands it, uses natural ingredients to target the same brain receptors as alcohol, calming and relaxing our mood, but without triggering the usual ill effects of over-indulgence. Our eminent science editor says the invention has much to recommend it. “The whole world is three drinks behind,” Humphrey Bogart once said. Maybe Sentia is that drink. It certainly sounds preferable to hot Bovril and vodka.
