Can Taking Olive Oil Shots Before Drinking Actually Stop Hangovers?

From simple habits like drinking loads of electrolytes, to more off-the-wall techniques like chugging a pint of pickle juice, there are countless creative hangover prevention hacks that imbibers around the world swear by. (And hey, no judgment, we get that it's hard to resist that perfect margarita or fruity craft beer.) Have you tried the one where you take a shot of olive oil before drinking yet? On "The Tonight Show," famous record producer Benny Blanco told host Jimmy Fallon that he swears by this hack to prevent hangovers. Of course, just because a celebrity endorses it doesn't make it true. Still, the hack does have a lot of fans, and there is some truth to it in that olive oil slows digestion.

As Employees Only co-founder Dushan Zaric shared with GQ, drinking olive oil before drinking actually can work to prevent hangovers. Zaric suggests drinking an ounce of cold pressed virgin olive oil, equivalent to 2 tablespoons, before a night out as the ingredient should help line your stomach. Having a little oil in your stomach means your body will take a longer time to absorb the alcohol. It's the same reason you might eat a greasy meal before or during a night of drinking. All those fatty ingredients can stave off the negative effects of alcohol as the booze slowly digests and travels through your stomach, so you can extend your fun just a bit longer.

While there are some pros to this hack, you shouldn't hinge your entire night on it, either. True, you may experience some positive effects by drinking olive oil before drinking, but it's not guaranteed to work for everyone. As dietitian Megan Huff shared with People, only 20% of alcohol is digested in your stomach, while the other 80% is absorbed by the intestine before finally metabolizing in the liver. So, from a scientific standpoint, this hack might not do a whole lot, as the alcohol doesn't spend a lot of time in your stomach anyway. 

Still, it might be worth a shot, as many people like Benny Blanco swear that it really does work. Plus, as Huff shared, olive oil's helpful antioxidants have the potential to help decrease inflammation (and thus some common hangover symptoms). As usual, the effects really just vary by person, so while some might love this hack, others may claim that it doesn't work on them. So, while there's not a ton of solid scientific evidence to back this up yet, this olive oil trick might just be something to consider trying for yourself.