Intravenous Drips as Hangover Cure

Dr Lorenzo Leggio runs a unit at the National Institutes of Health that specializes in the research and treatment of alcoholism and alcohol abuse.

He said: "In my opinion it should not be allowed for the simple reason that there is not scientific evidence that suggests that such a treatment is effective.

"The concern with this approach is that doctors are treating a consequence of excessive alcohol use, but they are not addressing the underlying medical problem which is the excessive alcohol use."

But Dr Jake Deutsch disagrees.

He runs an urgent care clinic in Manhattan and has been administering IV therapy for hangovers, fatigue and other non-urgent conditions for several years.

Each treatment costs around $200 and the IV cocktail can contain saline, vitamins and anti-nausea medicine.

Although he treats a small number of patients per week at the moment, he says there is a growing demand for the service.

He told Sky News: "When you drink water you can absorb it but it takes a bit longer, putting an IV in is direct access and in effect immediate results for the problem.

"The first direction that I would give somebody is that you should be avoiding excessive alcohol consumption, but unfortunately, no matter how much we counsel patients whether it's about smoking or weight loss, you know we can only go so far.

"There's not really good research about what causes a hangover and the best treatments for it... so until science proves otherwise, why don't we consider these options? You know you have to make changes and experiment to make progress within medicine."

His patients, invited to the clinic for the benefit of our cameras, seem convinced.

Hungover students Jacob Silverman and Anca Marinesco consumed three-quarters of a bottle of scotch the night before and had unsurprisingly woken up feeling awful.

Jacob said: "Pretty much within five minutes of them putting it in, I felt great, I feel like I didn't drink at all last night."

Anca said: "People are going to drink, I'm going to continue to drink, and I'm sure I'm going to get some more hangovers so... yeah I would definitely do this again."

Returning patient Alexandra Deberry said: "I'm young, I'm 26, you know, of course I want to go out and have fun.

"I work hard, so I think I deserve to play hard too, and if you're having one of those days and you've got somewhere to be and something you've got to do then it's definitely a necessity."

IV therapy is available at clinics across the States in places like Chicago, Miami Atlanta and Las Vegas.

For those who really cannot get out of bed, some businesses even offer an in-home service for an extra fee.

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By Hannah Thomas-Peter, US Correspondent