A study in the journal Nature describes a gel which taken orally catalyzes the breakdown of alcohol into relatively harmless acetic acid in the gut. Only 45% of alcohol enters the bloodstream. The liver converts much of the alcohol we drink into acetaldehyde, which is quite toxic, so it sounds like both the intoxicating properties and harmful effects of alcohol could be decreased by a factor of more than two.
I’m just a dumb-ass orthopedist, so maybe some of you real scientists can read and interpret the data here. To me, this will be revolutionary if the human trials show similar result to the animal studies.
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Does this mean I’d have to drink twice as much to get drunk? Wines already taking a toll on my wallet…
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If that’s you objective, then yes.
“Can you recommend a wine to go with the salmon?
Can you also recommend a biomimetic-nanozyme amyloid hydrogel to go with the wine?”
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Or you can switch to Alice Creek and Mollydooker
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Gross.
Also not a scientist, but the mechanism seems similar to the claims made by Zbiotics (dumbed down here) .
A friend of mine who is an Anesthesiologist / researcher at Cornell referred me to Zbiotics. It has had a pretty marked effect on my ability to consume alcohol without getting flushed (I lack one of the genes for producing acetaldehyde dehydrogenase, resulting in the Asian Flush) and increases my tolerance of alcohol significantly. Be said it needs broader clinical trials to prove in vivo, but the mechanisms and pathways they use are well understood.
Edit: in vivo, not vitro! Thanks Warren
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This will surely increase the cost of one’s alcohol consumption by 50% as well.
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It’ll probably be a decade before we see that in humans
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It’s not really that similar. I like zbiotics but relying on bacteria to digest alcohol which need to survive in a gut flora environment compared to an inert catalyst are not similar mechanisms.
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It’s interesting that people like us — wine enthusiasts who geek out about wine and don’t just use it as an alcoholic beverage — would seem like the main market for that drug.
Most people consider the alcohol and the buzz the point of drinking. Taking something to halve the buzz would really not make sense. They would have to pay for more alcohol on top of the cost of the drug, plus ingest more calories.
I’m not saying other drinkers don’t care about taste or don’t consider that significant. But we are the main group who drink for the detailed experience of the smells and flavors, and many of us would consider it even better to have reduced buzz and reduced health effects from alcohol while doing so.
Imagine heading to a tasting dinner or event and being have to have half the effect of the wines. Or opening a solo weeknight bottle and having it affect you like half a bottle (or half whatever portion of it you drink).
I’m not saying you can’t internet argue a few other examples of people who would choose to use something like that too, but really, no group would happily seek out something like this more than we would.
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I think there are over-the-top aficionados for most alcoholic beverages, but there is a broader audience as well. Beer nerds, agave-heads, cockteliers, etc., I’m guessing, would all be excited to prolong the experience they have with alcohol. There are also a ton of people who are natural born light-weights. They are wasted after just one or two drinks… it could be a game-changer for their ability to imbibe without getting sloppy in the blink of an eye. Then, as people get older, there are times when we want to go out for the night and feel like we can’t “hang” like we used to. I could see people taking something like this for a game day or special occasion that isn’t just a meal and after-dinner social experience.
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Actually, the bacteria doesn’t digest alcohol. It is B. Subtilis (ie the natto bacteria) that has been genetically modified to express ACoD, an acetaldehyde dehydrogenase enzyme in the gut, which is responsible for the action. So it is somewhat similar.
See
That’s the “sales of wine are being hit by the economic downturn” problem solved right there.
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But you get that buzz effect from the first glass. Most people are about the social aspect and the idea of being able to enjoy the social experience having a few drinks without as much of an impact (less, not none) would be welcome. Only kids drink to get drunk, or maybe not as much anymore.
It’s still a living organism, which needs to live in an environment of living organisms that is different for each person. An inert substance doesn’t have these interactions.
As a practical matter, I can way more see wine geeks being excited about using this type of product. We have the highest interest in having more drinks with less desire to become impaired by it.
If there is some small subset of beer or spirits geeks who approach their subject in a similar way, then it might apply to them too (more likely spirits than beer – beer is so filling and caloric that being able to have more seems like it has less appeal).
On paper, I get there are other examples, but I’m doubting that “lightweight who gets wasted after one or two drinks” is going to seek out and take this product so he can now get wasted after two or three drinks instead.
Maybe if you’re the older guy on the big Vegas or Nashville night out with younger friends or something, you might seek this out too, but that would be a rare occasion for most of us older guys, and what percentage of people for that one-off usage are going to have discovered and purchased a product like this?
Wine geeks might use something like this all the time, if it worked the way the original post suggests. We are the most perfect customers for it.
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I think a lot of people who don’t want DUIs will take this.
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If this worked and had no side effects and was reasonably-priced, would be amazing. Would probably increase my consumption of wine.
But not holding my breath.
Hangover reduction pill? Take it when going to bed, not earlier?
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