A German court has ruled that a hangover is an illness, in a verdict against the distributor of a food supplement marketed as an “anti-hangover drink”.
The state court in Frankfurt ruled in a verdict released on Monday that the marketing by the defendant, which it did not identify, violated a ban on attributing to food products the ability to prevent, treat or heal illnesses.
It rejected an appeal against a lower court’s similar verdict.
Judges found that an illness should be defined broadly in the interest of protecting people’s health, and said the term encompasses “any, even a slight or temporary, disruption of the body’s normal condition or normal activity”, according to a court statement.
That, they said, includes headaches and other symptoms that result from consuming alcohol, “a harmful substance”.Related... Why Do We Get Cramp After Drinking Alcohol? Experts Explain All Do Hangovers Actually Get Worse As You Get Older? We Got Meat Eaters To Try A Vegan Bacon Roll – Here's What They Thought