Nbio markets effective hangover drink
Nbio CEO Kim Yong-hak
Nbio’s hangover drink, K-cool
A new beverage maker, Nbio, has started marketing a hangover-relieving product to help drinkers ease the symptoms of headache, dizziness and drowsiness.
The company’s hangover drink, K-cool, is different from products of other firms, Nbio CEO Kim Yong-hak said.
“The striking difference is our product contains ingredients extracted from more than 13 herbs, including the flowers of kudzu, honeysuckle, dandelion and chrysanthemum,” Kim said.
He added that the natural ingredients have proven to work effectively to ease hangovers, noting that his company developed the product based on Oriental medicine’s method of improving health by keeping the head cool and the feet warm.
He pointed out that existing products of other companies are made of extracts mostly from oriental raisin tree, alder and turmeric.
K-cool also contains digestive enzymes, including amylase, protease and lipase.
Amylase helps the human body break down starch. Protease catalyzes the hydrolytic degradation of proteins or polypeptides to smaller amino acid polymers, while lipase helps people digest fats.
“Such enzymes help a human body digest foods ― particularly fatty foods ― taken with alcoholic drinks in a fast manner,” Kim said.
He said K-cool contains milk thistle and L-asparagine which could speed up the decomposition of alcohol in the liver. Other ingredients of the product include vitamins B1, B2, B3, B6 and C as well as zinc, magnesium and other minerals.
A can of K-cool has only 250 kilocalories ― the lowest among hangover relievers, Kim said. The company also offers hangover pills with the same efficacy as the canned drink.
He added the product does not contain any sugar, synthetic flavor or artificial pigment.
Kim explained that acetaldehyde is produced by the partial dehydrogenation of ethanol, the principal type of alcohol found in alcoholic drinks.
He said K-cool is designed to decompose acetaldehyde, which is considered to be the cause of hangovers.
Kim said his company will step up research and development to emerge as a leader in making products which can help people relieve the harmful effects of not only alcohol but also pesticides, dyes, heavy metals and antibiotics.
Nbio was created last year. Its factory is in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province.