The use of vitamin injections to alleviate fatigue or a “hangover” is booming in French-speaking Switzerland. The trend raises many questions about its real benefits and potential health risks.
More and more specialized “clinics” offer infusions of vitamin solutions, sometimes with nursing services available at home 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to perform these infusions. A practice often promoted aggressively on social networks, which essentially targets a young and wealthy audience.
The RTS show A Bon Entendeur detected structures active in this niche in Lausanne, Geneva and Gstaad. However, the practice is not limited to Switzerland. It is an international phenomenon, a business popularized by celebrities, influencers and other jet-setters.
Risks of kidney stones
Are the benefits of these infusions real? According to Dr. Pedro Marques-Vidal, full professor at CHUV, no study provides proof of this. Worse: the very high dose of vitamin C in certain solutions presents proven risks in terms of the formation of very painful kidney stones.
Equally worrying for Professor Marques-Vidal: the presence of medications in certain cocktails to combat hangovers such as painkillers and anti-nausea medications. He considers these infusions “against hangovers” unethical and sees them as almost an incitement to alcoholic excesses.
Formulas at 1500 francs
The cost of these injections is also singled out. Some “clinics” offer packages of up to 1,500 francs. A simple infusion of physiological serum (saline water and minerals) can cost nearly 280 francs, while sachets of serum similar to these injected solutions can be found at a price of 2.30 francs.
Contacted on this subject, doctor Alexandra Miles, from the company Yuboost in Lausanne, justifies these prices by explaining that they cover not only the medical equipment, but also the consultation and the nursing time necessary for the infusion. As for patient safety, she ensures that a “complete medical questionnaire” is carried out before each injection. And to specify: “All the vitamins, minerals and medicines that we use are authorized on the Swiss market and are part of the Swissmedic catalog.”
Doubts nevertheless persist, particularly at the CHUV, which warns of the risks linked to the use of these infusions carried out for non-medical reasons. A medical publication is planned on this subject.
Didier Bonvin/ABE
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