DHM (Dihydromyricetin — Hovenia / Vine Tea)

Less drunk, milder hangover

The DHM story starts with a 2012 Journal of Neuroscience paper from UCLA. In rats, DHM (1 mg/kg, injected) counteracted acute alcohol intoxication (loss of righting reflex) and withdrawal signs (anxiety, seizure susceptibility, tolerance), and greatly reduced voluntary drinking. At the cellular level, it blocked alcohol's potentiation of GABA_A receptors and the receptor changes (more α4 subunits) that come with chronic exposure. It seems to act at the benzodiazepine site, because the benzodiazepine antagonist flumazenil cancelled its effects.¹ (Animal — clean, well-controlled; injected, not oral)

The gap is human data. A 2026 systematic review of DHM for alcohol-related conditions found 22 studies: 8 in-vitro, 17 in animals and just 2 clinical. Neither clinical study tested isolated DHM; both used Hovenia dulcis extracts, and both saw reductions in hangover severity and some inflammatory markers.² An earlier review of every randomized hangover trial found only very low quality evidence for any agent — Hovenia fruit extract, L-cysteine, clove extract, red ginseng and Korean pear juice among them — with no two studies testing the same thing.³ (Early for DHM itself; very low quality for Hovenia extract)

Put simply: the rat pharmacology is real, but "DHM prevents hangovers" is an extrapolation that hasn't been tested with the product people actually buy. For a hangover remedy with small human RCTs behind it, molecular hydrogen is about level.

Protects the liver from alcohol

The same UCLA group showed that in mice fed alcohol chronically, DHM reduced fatty liver, liver triglycerides and injury markers. It activated AMPK (switching the liver toward burning fat), increased expression of alcohol-metabolizing enzymes, and lowered blood alcohol and acetaldehyde. The authors attribute part of this to raised NAD⁺, the cofactor alcohol breakdown consumes.⁴ (Animal)

The faster acetaldehyde clearance is the mechanism most relevant to how people feel the next day, since acetaldehyde drives much of the hangover. It hasn't been measured in humans taking DHM. For a liver herb with actual human biopsy data, see Milk Thistle.

Better blood sugar and liver markers in fatty liver

The only proper human trials of DHM are metabolic, not alcohol-related:

• Fatty liver: 60 adults with NAFLD took 300 mg DHM twice daily or placebo for 3 months. ALT, AST, GGT, glucose, LDL, apoB and HOMA-IR all fell on DHM compared with placebo.⁵
• Type 2 diabetes: 70 adults took Ampelopsis grossedentata (vine tea, the richest natural DHM source) or placebo for 1 month. Fasting glucose, glycated albumin and kidney markers fell; lipids didn't change.⁶

Both trials were small, short and from the same institution (the Third Military / Army Medical University in Chongqing). (Moderate — two small RCTs; needs replication outside China)

How to take it

• Dose: commercial hangover products usually give 300–600 mg. The NAFLD trial used 600 mg/day split in two.
• Timing: products say to take it with drinks or before bed. Nobody has tested which timing is better in humans.
• Absorption: DHM is poorly soluble and poorly absorbed (oral bioavailability in rats is in the low single digits), which is why so much work goes into new formulations. That also means human doses aren't comparable to the rat injections.
• Sources: Hovenia dulcis (Japanese raisin tree, used in Korean and Chinese hangover remedies) and Ampelopsis grossedentata (vine tea, used for DHM extraction). Look for a product that states the DHM content in milligrams.
• Alongside: the other options on this site for heavy-drinking nights are molecular hydrogen and NAC / cysteine, which work by different mechanisms. None of them has strong evidence.

Safety