Dihydromyricetin, almost always called DHM, is a flavonoid extracted from the Japanese raisin tree (Hovenia dulcis) and Chinese vine tea (Ampelopsis grossedentata). Most people use it to take the edge off drinking. A dose before or after alcohol tends to leave you sharper that night and less wrecked the next morning. It's the active ingredient in almost every modern hangover supplement on the market.

DHM helps with faster acetaldehyde clearance, has anti-inflammatory effects and reduce the liver damage but also reduces the buzz (GABA-A antagonism).

DHM seems to blunt some of alcohol's effects on the brain, push the liver to clear alcohol and its toxic byproduct acetaldehyde faster, and reduce the inflammation that drives a lot of hangover symptoms. It won't make heavy drinking safe and it won't stop you from getting drunk if you drink hard enough. What it does, in the people it works for, is shift the experience: you feel the alcohol a bit less acutely, recover a bit faster, and the next morning feels less like a write-off. Separately, there's reasonable human evidence that DHM improves liver function and metabolic markers in people with fatty liver, so it has a second use case for anyone with elevated liver enzymes or NAFLD on bloodwork.

Deep-dive

Dosage:

• For hangover prevention: 300-600 mg taken 30-60 minutes before your first drink. Split-dose for longer sessions: half before, half partway through, or half before and half before bed with a glass of water. Women may need to lean toward the higher end of the range or split-dose more aggressively given faster clearance
• For active hangover (already drunk or the next morning): 300-600 mg with water and food. Effect is more modest than prevention because the peak alcohol and acetaldehyde exposure has already happened, but the anti-inflammatory and ALDH-supporting effects can still help recovery
• For NAFLD or elevated liver enzymes: 300 mg twice daily for at least 3 months, the protocol used in the Chen 2015 RCT. This is a daily regimen, not situational. Recheck liver enzymes at 3 months
• Timing: Bioavailability is poor and the half-life is short (around 3-4 hours), so timing matters more than for most supplements. Take it close to the alcohol exposure, not hours before. Taking it with a fatty meal may slow absorption slightly but also extend the window, which can be useful for long drinking sessions
• Forms: Standardised DHM extract powder or capsules (look for 98%+ purity from a reputable source) is the cleanest option. Whole-plant Hovenia dulcis fruit extract is what most of the human trials actually used, contains other flavonoids and quercetin that may contribute to the effect, and works fine if that's what's available. Avoid stacks that include curcumin, daidzein, or resveratrol with DHM, a 2020 study showed those combinations diminished DHM's GABA-A activity in vitro, possibly through competitive binding
• Stacks: Pairs well with Glutathione or its precursor NAC for the acetaldehyde-clearing side, since glutathione is the cofactor for the next step in alcohol metabolism. Pairs with electrolytes and water for the hangover use case, since alcohol's diuretic effect is independent of DHM's mechanism. Do not stack with Benzodiazepines (alprazolam, clonazepam, diazepam, lorazepam), Z-drugs, or other GABA-A agonists, the interaction is theoretically antagonistic and clinically untested in humans
• DHM is not a license to drink more. The dose-response on liver damage, brain volume loss, blood pressure, and cancer risk from alcohol is linear with no threshold, and DHM doesn't change any of that. It can take the edge off the acute experience and the next-morning hangover, nothing more

Here's what you can expect:

If DHM works for you, the most common subjective effects are: you feel the alcohol slightly less, you sober up a bit faster (the second half of a drinking session feels less impaired than usual), and the next morning is noticeably less rough. Headache, nausea, and brain fog are typically what improve most. The effect is real but modest, somewhere in the range of one or two fewer drinks' worth of hangover, not a complete eraser. People expecting to feel completely fine after a hard night will be disappointed.

If DHM doesn't work for you, you'll notice nothing. Response varies and not everyone gets the effect, possibly due to absorption differences, ALDH genetics, or the specific symptoms that drive your hangovers (DHM helps with the inflammatory and GABA-rebound components more than dehydration or sleep disruption).

For NAFLD, you won't feel anything subjectively in the short term. What you'll see, if it's working, is liver enzymes (ALT, AST, GGT) drop on bloodwork at 3 months along with improvements in fasting glucose, LDL, and insulin resistance markers.

Side effects & risks: