It is intended to find novel pharmaceutical use ofsphingomyelin and to provide preventive or therapeuticagents for various diseases as well as a food and drinkproduct and feed comprising any of these agents. Thepresent invention provides a pharmaceutical agent whichcontains sphingomyelin as an active ingredient and is anyof the following agents: 1) a sialomucin secretionpromoter, 2) an agent for preventing drunken sickness(hangover), 3) an antiallergic agent, 4) an antioxidant,5) an agent for defending against infection, 6) a hairgrowth agent, 7) a therapeutic agent for demyelinatingdisease, 8) an anti-pigmentation agent, 9) an anti-inflammatoryagent, and 10) an agent for improvinglearning ability. The present invention also provides afood and drink product or feed, characterized bycomprising the agent. It is preferred that thesphingomyelin should be derived from milk.