S. Korean firm launches hangover-cure ice cream
Print Edition
SOUTH Koreans, Asia’s biggest per capita alcohol consumers, can now soothe themselves after a big night out with hangover-fighting ice cream.
A convenience store chain yesterday launched the Gyeondyo-bar, which translates as “hang in there” and according to the company is the first ice cream bar marketed to combat the after-effects of alcohol consumption.
Drinking, often in groups of co-workers, is big business in South Korea, and so are hangover cures — ranging from pills and beverages to cosmetics — which generate about 150 billion won (US$126 million) in annual sales, according to industry data.
Those cures exclude the “hangover soup” that is a staple of Korean restaurant menus.
South Korea is exporting its remedies.
Its most popular hangover beverage, Hut-gae Condition, made by a unit of the CJ Corp conglomerate, has been sold in China, Japan and Vietnam since 2014.
It also features in the 2014 music video “Hangover,” by South Korean pop star Psy and US rapper Snoop Dogg.
South Koreans drink 12.3 liters of alcohol per year, the most in Asia-Pacific, according to a 2014 World Health Organization report.
A study by South Korea’s National Health Insurance Policy Institute estimated that the social cost of drinking, including lost production, hospitalizations and early deaths, was about 9.45 trillion won in 2013.
The ice cream bar’s name “expresses the hardships of employees who have to suffer a working day after heavy drinking, as well as to provide comfort to those who have to come to work early after frequent nights of drinking”, convenience store chain Withme FS, a unit of E-Mart Co, part of the Shinsegae Group conglomerate, said in a press release.
The grapefruit-flavored dessert contains 0.7 percent oriental raisin tree fruit juice, a traditional hangover remedy cited in a Korean medicine book from the 17th century that is included in popular hangover potions.
A 2012 Journal of Neuroscience article said oriental raisin tree extract reduced symptoms of intoxication in rats.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
