You've seen them on TV commercials, passed them in drug and grocery store checkouts and heard believers sing their praises.

They are the over-the-counter "hangover cures" -- the little miracle pills that promise freedom from headaches and nausea after a night out, such as Chaser and RU-21.

However, some people recently have begun to question the effectiveness of these pills and wonder if spending anywhere from $2.99 to $29.99 really is worth it.

"You have to look at what causes a hangover," said Byron Jones, professor of biobehavioral health and pharmacology. "There isn't just one factor that causes hangovers."

"First, alcohol causes dehydration; you lose body water," Jones said. "That's why more goes out than is taken in," he added with a chuckle.

"Then there are the chemicals that enter the body inside the alcohol, like acetaldehyde -- which is the chemical that these pills latch onto," Jones said. It changes the way the body metabolizes alcohol, he added.

"Acetaldehyde is chemically similar to formaldehyde, which is why it is poisonous," Jones said.

Chaser and other pills use a form of activated charcoal to pick up the bio-chemicals contained in alcohol when they enter a person's system, Jones said.

"The activation of the compound attracts and absorbs the chemicals. It doesn't allow certain chemicals to enter the bloodstream," Carl Sperber, Chaser marketing director, said.

"One thing people should remember," Sperber added, "is that the pill won't do anything to lower blood alcohol content."

Jones said that no drug company is willing to put out the money to test how these pills will react. Research institutes will not allow researchers to purposely make a person that sick just to test something that is easily preventable.

"Hangovers are a very under-studied area," Sperber said. "The independent clinical trials were a success, which is why so many people trust Chaser."

Mike Smith, manager of McLanahan's Student Store, 414 E. College Ave., which sells Chaser, said that some people buy the product "religiously -- they swear by it."

"On a normal weekend, we sell between 10 to 20 units," he said. "And on a big weekend, like a football weekend or Arts Fest, we can sell around 50 units."

Jones said that even though there are some cases where the product will work, in most cases it is a placebo reaction.

Cedric Yoedt (senior-computer engineering) said he has tried Chaser and RU-21.

"RU-21 didn't work," he said. "You had to take a pill for every drink, and it was hard to keep track of."

Yoedt said Chaser worked well, but that he had not consumed as much alcohol that night.

"I only tried it because it was a free sample," he said.

There are more effective ways to treat a hangover, Jones said.

Yoedt, who used to worked at a General Nutrition Center (GNC), said, "I found that a glass of water with every other drink reduces dehydration."

Jones said Yoedt's idea is a good one.

He added that "there are all kinds of concoctions [thought to reduce hangovers], which are mainly just folk tales."

Some are simply unhealthy, he said. For instance, "you should avoid ibuprofen and acetaminophen because they can be bad for the liver."