South Korean convenience chain WithMe launches ice cream bar to cure hangovers

South Korea-based convenience chain WithMe has launched the Gyeondyo-bar ice-cream, which claims to cure hangovers.

Translated as ‘hang in there’, Gyeondyo-bar contains 0.7% of raisin tree fruit juice, which is commonly used by Koreans to cure hangovers, reported Irishtimes.com.

This remedy was mentioned in a medicine book written in the 17th century.

According to a 2014 report by the World Health Organization, the average annual alcohol consumption in the country is 12.3l a person, which is the highest in the Asia-Pacific region.

Launched last week, this ice cream is claimed to be the first in the market that helps combat the after-effects of excessive alcohol consumption.

The market of hangover cures is estimated to be worth $126m, ranging from beverages to pills.

South Korea also exports its hangover cures to countries such as China, Vietnam and Japan.

A unit of the CJ Corp has been exporting the Hut-gae Condition hangover cure since 2014, reported CNBC.