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Kudzu Helps Curb Binge Drinking
jeepliberty writes "CNN has a story that the invasive
ground cover vegetation Kudzu is being tested to curb binge
alcohol drinking. In the health story posted Monday, researchers at the
Harvard-affiliated McClean Hospital in Boston stated that volunteers
who were given kudzu drank about 50% less beer in a 90-minute period
than the group that was given a plecebo. The kudzu group got just an intoxicated."
If someone gave me a kudzu leaf, I'd probably think I'd had too much to drink already.
Windows isn't the answer... it's the question. NO is the answer!
Here's a quote from the Internet Health Library:
Next on CNN, researchers have determined that the sun rises in the east.
____
~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey
Kudzu grows as fast as one foot per day.
If only beer grew this fast in the wild!
"Here eat some already! It's all over the place now. And lay off the sauce."
So it makes you feel drunker quicker eh? So instead of having 2 beers in 2 hours and driving safely home I could have 2 beers in 2 hours and get a DUI?
The article states that the BAC levels in the kudzu group were still raised. This is the most dangerous part of binge drinking which leaves me wondering if using it is really safer. It may help break the habit but doesn't seem like it's safe method of trying to be able to drive home sooner.
The use of herbal plants to treat alcohol-related diseases dates back to 600 AD. One such Chinese herbal medicine XJL (NPI-028), has long been used to reduce the inebriation that results from alcohol consumption. NPI-028 contains the extracts of several plants including Pueraria lobata (kudzu) and Citrus reticulata, which were recorded in an ancient Chinese materia medica entitled Ben Cho Gang Mu (li, 1590-1696 AD) and have long been used to lessen alcohol intoxication (antidrunkenness) (Sun, circa 600 AD). However, it is difficult to assess the real efficacy of kudzu based on these writings because they are primarily anecdotal in nature.
The scientists were very well aware of the ancient literature. However, the article continues to site sources showing that Kadzu has been extensively tested and no antidrunkenness effect was found. What makes this study new is that they isolated and concentrated the active ingredient that causes the effect (isoflavones). The study used an isoflavones concentration of 25% - in contrast the highest concentration that you can buy on the market is 1-2%, with the ranges varying widely within samples from the same manufacturer.
This study doesn't state that the sun rises in the east; it suggests that perhaps the earth revolves around the sun.
I recently read a book about nutrition by Dr. Willet of the Harvard School of Public Health in which he discusses the effects of alcohol consumption on overall mortality rate.
Alcohol has a prophylactic effect against heart disease (and stroke? I'm not sure if I remember this correctly). If you plot mortality rates against drinks per day, people who have one to two drinks a day have a lower mortality rate than people who drink either less or more.
It gets really interesting when you disaggregate the data by type of mortality. As people drink more, their chance of dying from things like heart disease continue to drop. The marginal effect is still pretty dramatic at three or even four drinks. However, above one drink per day deaths from accidents starts to rise extremely rapidly.
So -- we may have a medicine here that is worse than the disease.
You get just as impaired after one to two drinks as you do after three or four, so you have the same chance of doing something boneheaded and killing yourself. However, you don't get the cardiovascular benefits.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
Before you all run out and start munching on Kudzu, you should note that the study had the participants take 1000mg of concentrated Kudzu extract containing 25% isoflavones twice per day over a period of one week. In contrast, the article reports that when they tested over-the-counter preparations of kudzu, "none of the preparations contained more than 2% isoflavones, and most contained less that 1%". In order achieve the same dose used by the researchers, one would have to consume a minimum of 12.5 grams of over-the-counter preparations twice per day. Researchers tried using over-the-counter Kadzu in the past but didn't see any effect until the isoflavones were concentrated.
I mean, come on! Anyone who's ever dealt with it knows that kudzu stops everything.
Why not say "kudzu stops house panting" or "kudzu stops lawn mowing" or "kudzu stops grocery shopping" or "kudzu stops carjackings" or...well, the point is, unless you fight back with a nuke-it-from-orbit mentality, kudzu stops everything.
What? They ate it? Eeew.
--MarkusQ
How long before 40oz manufactures start adding kudzu to their malt liquor, bottling it in 20oz bottles and charging twice as much?
Or hell, add it to a regular 40oz, and call it an (80)oz.
BTW - i call dibbs on these ideas! You all are my witnesses.
There are 01 types of people in this world. Those that understand binary, and me.
when I tried kudzu, it said that my brain appeared to have been removed. Would I want to:
Remove Configuration, Keep Configuration, or Do Nothing
"Lukas was not certain why but speculated that kudzu increases blood alcohol levels and speeds up its effects. More simply put, the subjects needed fewer beers to feel drunk."
:" THE SUBJECTS NEEDED FEWER BEERS TO FEEL DRUNK"
I REPEAT
Now that I brought the important point to your attention, please consider the difference.
On one side a process to cure drunkeness
On the other side the same process to get me high faster on less money...
as MY beer sure ain't free, this mean that grazing a few kudzu leaves as an appetizer will find me dancing half naked after two shots...
Next thing we hear, kudzu will become a rarity as all night clubs in the world are collecting as much as they can so their parties can be more fun 8)
It takes 40+ muscles to frown, but only four to extend your arm and bitchslap the motherfucker
I was wondering what Kudzu had to do with decreasing drinking? I'd think that if Kudzu didn't find your new hardware it would actually have the opposite effect.
With major beer producers now adulterating their products with such odd additives as guarana and caffeine, they would have to be worried that if a couple of herbal pills meant that Joe Nineteenyrold would only need a beer or two before he's blitzed, their profits would be hurt. How long before the big brewers and distillers lobby for a ban?
I deny that I have not avoided attaining the opposite of that which I do not want.
RTFA. They gave a placebo for a control group.
"Quack medicine" better decribes what managed care dishes out than it describes the clinical use of traditional medicinal herbs.
If you're interested in the scientific and reductionist research into herbal preparations rather than spouting FUD, I suggest you search PubMed.
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | my blog
You cannot wash away blood with blood