On a typical Sunday morning, the line for Bui's food truck extends down 38th Street, as Penn students desperately search for relief from headaches, fatigue, dehydration and unsettled stomachs -- classic symptoms of a hangover.
"It starts the process of recovering," College sophomore Paul Reid said of his personal hangover cure -- a ham, egg and cheese sandwich and a bottle of Gatorade.
Though workers at Bui's say they are always prepared to cater to the needs of the hungover Penn student, they may soon face some competition, as several new alternatives for treating hangovers are now available in capsule form.
Perfect Equation, Inc. is currently marketing a product known as HPF -- or the Hangover Prevention Formula.
Derived from the fruit of the prickly pear cactus, one dose of this botanical extract prior to drinking prevents hangovers for the next three days, according to Gerald Stefanko, director of marketing for Perfect Equation, Inc.
"The prickly pear cactus has such an incredible survivability characteristic," Stefanko said.
Originally, researchers were trying to use the plant to prevent fatigue and physical stress on humans. They tested the product on scuba divers who reported they not only felt energized enough to party after normally exhausting dives, but also realized that they did not feel the negative effects of partying the morning after.
"This was serendipitously discovered ... they were not looking to find a hangover prevention product," Stefanko said.
A study was then conducted at Tulane University and the results were submitted to the American Medical Association, which reviewed the study and published the findings in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
The study found that 29 percent of the college students surveyed had missed class during the previous week due to hangovers. The researchers also estimated that $148 billion is lost annually in America, "due to poor work performance and absenteeism caused by hangovers," according to Stefanko.
Though Stefanko would not comment on the exact profits earned by Perfect Equation, he said that sales have been "growing in leaps and bounds."
College senior Drew Payne, a regular customer at Bui's, said he has heard of hangover pills but has never used them before.
"I'd rather not take medicine if it's not necessary, but I'd be interested to see if it actually works," Payne said. "It'd be nice to wake up in the morning and not feel bad."
"I don't know if I necessarily believe it, but I wouldn't be against trying it," Reid said.
Other students are more skeptical. "I don't think that it would be very good because it will probably make people drink more," College freshman Laura Martin said.
Engineering sophomore Ilana Kafer said she thought that if students are going to use alcohol, they should have to deal with the aftermath.
"If you're going to drink, you should face the consequences -- not only of hangovers, but to the risks," she said, adding, "I'm sure if I had a hangover I'd think differently."
But Stefanko disagrees.
"We're preventing the morbidity that comes from a hangover and drinking," Stefanko said. "It's not an excuse to be able to drink more ... this is not an excuse to go out and buy a bottle of vodka ... and think you're a super person."
Another way to ease the effects of hangovers is to slow down the process of alcohol absorption "by eating food when you drink, drinking slower over a longer period of time and also drinking a lot of water," according to Karin Rhodes, director of Health Services Research Group of the Section of Emergency Medicine at the University of Chicago.
Nevertheless, according to Robert Neumar, an assistant professor in Penn's Department of Emergency Medicine, "the best way to prevent a hangover is to not drink too much" to begin with.
