A hangover is no fun. Overindulging in booze not only makes you feel miserable but can also cause alcohol-related damage to the liver.  But a new genetically engineered probiotic that is designed to blunt the harmful effects of alcohol may prevent the painful effects of drinking too much.

According to Study Finds, Chinese researchers found that in experiments with mice, the new probiotic not only helped the animals break down alcohol faster, but it also protected their livers, which could reduce risk for a variety of health problems including heart disease, cirrhosis, and immune deficiency.

“We believe that genetically engineered probiotics will provide new ideas for the treatment of liver diseases,” said Meng Dong from the Chinese Academy of Science’s Institute of Zoology, in a press release from the American Society for Microbiology.

A human enzyme called ADH1B accelerates the breakdown of alcohol in the body and the genetically engineered probiotic helps express that enzyme in mice. In a paper published this week in Microbiology Spectrum, the researchers said that the probiotic reduced alcohol absorption, prolonged alcohol tolerance and shortened the animals’ recovery time after exposure to alcohol.

The probiotic has not yet been tested in humans, but the authors predict that if it confers the same benefits, it could present a whole new way to reduce alcohol-induced health problems, and liver problems in general. Previous studies have tried to use viral vectors to express ADH1B in humans, but that approach didn’t appear to be safe.

However, Dong and her colleagues found that introducing the enzyme into the probiotic Lactococcus lactis, enabled a safer delivery. The researchers encapsulated the probiotic to ensure it would survive stomach acids, then tested the product on three groups of five mice, each exposed to different levels of alcohol.

Untreated mice showed signs of inebriation 20 minutes after exposure to alcohol. When placed on their backs, they could not get back on their feet. But in the group that received the probiotic that expressed human ADH1B, half the mice were still able to turn themselves over after one hour of exposure to alcohol. A quarter never lost their ability to turn themselves over.

The treated mice also had lower levels of blood alcohol after two hours, while in the control group, blood alcohol levels continued to rise, said the press release. The researchers found that the mice who received the probiotic had lower levels of lipids and triglycerides in their livers, suggesting that the treatment could alleviate alcohol-related damage to that organ.

The next step said Dong is to see if the therapeutic effect of the probiotics extends to humans.

“We are excited about the improvement of recombinant probiotics in acute alcohol-induced liver and intestinal damage,” she said.