Scientists are working on a much less toxic alcohol which shows very similar stimulating properties of regular alcohol without the severe toxicity or hang over on the next day.
According to Prof. Nutt (I am not making this up) people who consume alcosynth will experience a plateau after consumption of 3-5 drinks. So you can never drink too much.
Long term health effects of alcosynth are not known.
Scientists???
ethyl alcohol is ethyl alcohol. Makes no sense to me, but I am no scientist. What this compound is is unclear to me.
Synthehol was on Star Trek. I’d rather have Romulan Ale.
I was listening to an NPR interview with the “inventors” of Alcosynth a few week ago, and I really wondered what they could be promoting. Isomers of carbon chain chemicals can have completely different properties, but ethyl alcohol has no isomers. How can this hangover free, non-addicting synthetic alcohol give you a proper alcohol buzz?
We’ve heard the saying, “If it sounds too good to be true”.
P Hickner
Apparently it is not based on ethyl alcohol but rather synthesized carbon hydrates. Initial tests were made with derivates of benzodiazepine (Valium’s family). The nutty professor patented over 90 compounds.
I would be very concerned about any long term carcinogenic toxicity, never mind the hang over.
Gonna stick with the Bourbon and Burgundy, while well hydrated. No synthetics needed.
Note that apart from one vague response from government health spokesperson, there is no comment from other chemists or doctors.
A couple of red flags:
Mr Nutt said his new drinks did not contain benzodiazepine, and > their formulas would remain a closely guarded, patented secret.
To patent them or get regulatory approval, I believe he’d have to divulge what the substance is, so this sounds dubious.
And then there is this:
Professor Nutt, who was sacked from his position as the government drugs tsar in 2009 after he claimed taking ecstasy was less dangerous than riding a horse…
Plus… FDA approval would be quite a hurdle.
George
It turns out he wasn’t the drug czar; he merely sat on the government’s 40-member Advisory Committee on the Misuse of Drugs. He resigned over a research paper in which he argued that ecstacy was statistically less harmful than being addicted to horse riding. In general, he has argued for rethinking government policy toward drugs. He’s a psychiatrist and neuropsychopharmacologist. (Wikipedia)
So … (a) my post above may due him a disservice and (b) the Independent’s article appears to have been sloppy as well as superficial.
Likely he is trying to develop a GABA-A receptor agonist, which would have those properties. Seems a bit of a silly venture to me. More importantly, even if you delevoped a totaly specific compound, I am unclear how safe it would be- sure you could drink it all day and never overdose, but only if you took it alone. If you combined with (ironically) alcohol, there is a chance such a combinaiton could be lethal.
Taking these regularly would concern me a lot more than drinking alcohol regularly.
What does this have to do with alcohol? It sounds like a synthetic drug that may result in similar effects as alcohol - not sure how that’s particularly different than creating a synthetic drug that has similar effects as pot or something else . . .
I agree Andrew. It has nothing to do with alcohol
What is a hangover like?