What causes a hangover
A hangover is not caused by ethanol. Ethanol is what makes you feel the effects of drinking. The damage comes from acetaldehyde, the toxic intermediate your liver produces while clearing ethanol.
What is happening
The actual cause
Your liver metabolizes ethanol in two stages. The first enzyme, alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH), converts ethanol to acetaldehyde. The second enzyme, aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH2), converts acetaldehyde to acetate — which is harmless and goes into normal metabolism.
The problem is that ADH is fast and ALDH2 has a fixed ceiling. When you drink faster than ALDH2 can keep up, acetaldehyde accumulates. Acetaldehyde is a Group 1 carcinogen, a reactive aldehyde that crosslinks proteins and DNA, and the actual molecular cause of the symptoms people call a hangover.
Ingredients that address this, ranked
- L-Cysteine Tier 1 · Core Impact: high — Chemical trap for acetaldehyde at the source.
- NAC (N-Acetyl Cysteine) Tier 1 · Core Impact: high — Glutathione precursor; acetaminophen safety net.
- DHM (Dihydromyricetin) Tier 1 · Core Impact: high — Accelerates alcohol clearance; blunts GABA rebound.
How tiers compare for this mechanism
| Goal | Best (Tier 1) | Strong support (Tier 2) | Situational (Tier 3+) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Acetaldehyde clearance | L-Cysteine, NAC (N-Acetyl Cysteine), DHM (Dihydromyricetin), Sulforaphane | ||
| Glutathione support | L-Cysteine, NAC (N-Acetyl Cysteine), Sulforaphane | ||
| Liver protection | L-Cysteine, NAC (N-Acetyl Cysteine), DHM (Dihydromyricetin), Sulforaphane | ||
| Neurotransmitter modulation | DHM (Dihydromyricetin) |
Deeper science · In more detail
Why you feel what you feel
Acetaldehyde accumulation explains almost every symptom:
- Nausea and headache — acetaldehyde is directly toxic to the
gut lining and triggers serotonin release in the brainstem emetic centers.
- Flush, fast heartbeat — acetaldehyde triggers histamine release
and vasodilation.
- Cognitive fog — acetaldehyde crosses the blood-brain barrier and
interferes with neural signaling.
- Next-day anxiety and 3am wakeups — a separate mechanism, from
GABA-A rebound, stacked on top.
What to do about it
Every ingredient in the Afterburners protocol exists to reduce acetaldehyde exposure by one of three paths:
1. Trap it chemically. L-cysteine and glycine react with acetaldehyde directly. 2. Clear it enzymatically faster. DHM and sulforaphane raise ALDH2 activity and ALDH2 enzyme quantity. 3. Replenish glutathione. NAC and silymarin keep the liver's backup conjugation pathway running.
The protocol's design principle is that any one pathway can be saturated, so flood all of them at once.