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Can Science Make Alcohol Safer? (scientificamerican.com)
Long-time Slashdot reader Zorro was the first to spot this story. Scientific American reports:
Could there be a "liver-friendly" vodka? One company claims its proprietary blend of additives reduces stress on the body... The researchers concluded that consuming the alcohol with the additives -- glycyrrhizin, derived from licorice; D-mannitol, a sugar alcohol; and potassium sorbate, a preservative -- may support improved liver health compared with drinking alcohol alone. Marsha Bates, a distinguished research professor and director of the Center of Alcohol Studies at Rutgers University, said the study design "seemed appropriate." But, she added, study itself was small, with only 12 healthy men and women, and "doesn't really provide any information of what the long-term effects of consuming alcohol with this additive would be. It's a positive preliminary study but certainly does not provide a firm basis for speculating about long-term impact."
Functional or not, Harsha Chigurupati needs approval from federal regulators before he can tout curative powers on a label... Specifically, Chigurupati is seeking approval to make the claim that his blend, known as NTX for "No Tox," provides "antioxidant and inflammatory support" and "reduces the risk of alcohol-induced liver diseases," among other claims... Chigurupati said his goal is not to enable people to drink more, but to drink with less physical harm.
The claim "leaves some experts deeply skeptical," adds the article, while 33-year-old Chigurupati admits that an earlier formula "tasted terrible and it actually burned my mouth." But his company later developed a formula which he says tasted good and is easier on the liver. "I don't believe in abstinence," Chigurupati told the Wall Street Journal. "What I do believe in is using technology to make life better. I'm not going to stop drinking, so why not make it safer?"
Functional or not, Harsha Chigurupati needs approval from federal regulators before he can tout curative powers on a label... Specifically, Chigurupati is seeking approval to make the claim that his blend, known as NTX for "No Tox," provides "antioxidant and inflammatory support" and "reduces the risk of alcohol-induced liver diseases," among other claims... Chigurupati said his goal is not to enable people to drink more, but to drink with less physical harm.
The claim "leaves some experts deeply skeptical," adds the article, while 33-year-old Chigurupati admits that an earlier formula "tasted terrible and it actually burned my mouth." But his company later developed a formula which he says tasted good and is easier on the liver. "I don't believe in abstinence," Chigurupati told the Wall Street Journal. "What I do believe in is using technology to make life better. I'm not going to stop drinking, so why not make it safer?"
Can't I not just put tonic in my gin?
Because drinking in general moderation is not considered unsafe?
If you wanted to make it safe you'd be drinking alcohol free beverages. You're far more likely to die from impairment than liver damage.
Star Trek Cannon
LOL I don't remember a cannon in Star Trek, they usually use energy weapons.
The only thing I see wrong with alcohol as it is today is misuse and over use. Perhaps what we need is a little more self discipline and self control. Have a glass of wine with dinner or a beer at the ball game but donâ(TM)t go nuts.
I have been out drinking all night some times, never had a problem. At least, not that I can recall. I'm sure its perfectly safe.
Chigurupati said his goal is not to enable people to drink more, but to drink with less physical harm
Alfred Nobel would like a word with you. No matter your intentions, people, both good and bad, will find uses and applications for your invention that you cannot possibly imagine. Worse, they will find uses and applications that you have imagined. That is human nature.
The only additives I need in my vodka are a tiny splash of vermouth and maybe an olive.
Olives are an important food group, and contain omega-something. I forget which one, but I know it's one of the omegas.
You are welcome on my lawn.
D-mannitol is an Osmotic diuretic. Tastes sweet but difficult to digest. Grain alcohol (ethanol) is prioritized over sugar when it comes to metabolizing (it is a poison that the body tries to rid itself of). Mixing normal sugars with ethanol can cause hyperglycemia which can cause the body start converting sugars into lipids (hyperlipidemia).
Potassium sorbate is more than a preservative, it slows the uptake of alcohol. You could eat peanuts with your drink and get a similar effect.
Any more vitamin C that your body can absorb will be urinated out. Take large amounts of it, and it makes your stomach hurt and gives you diarrhea. I see no benefit to adding it to alcohol, other than taste.
"When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back!" -- Cave Johnson
Glycyrrhizin might not be the wisest choice of additive.
Research on glycyrrhizin at University of Helsinki published in American Journal of Epidemiology (2017):
1. It has harmful effects on a foetus.
2. New research has discovered that it impairs children's IQ's by at least 7 points.
3. Scientists are unsure whether there is even a safe limit of this natural sweetener
4. In separate research, it was proven to be a carcinogen even in normal doses.
5. It is responsible for the liquorice taste which is unpleasant to disgusting by over 30% of adult males.
As somebody from northern Europe... Fuck ya! Licorice is love, licorice is life! Black, strong, salty!
You are more correct than you expect with your comment on flavor. I have two friends who are seriously into wine (or getting wine into them). One owns a liquor store that's mostly stocked with wines. I fooled and then amazed them when I gave them a few glasses to taste of fairly average wine without telling them I'd added just a touch of pure vitamin C to them. Add just a tiny pinch to a glass and it really "opens up" the taste. Try it, you'll be glad you did.
On the one hand you take life too seriously, and on the other, you do not take playful existence seriously enough. Seth
Well, Star Trek: Enterprise had Pulse & Phase Cannons.
Though I remember a strong desire among many to shoot Rick Berman out of a cannon.
before I RTFA and comment about it.
by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
Star Trek already did it.
Dude, already tried, it didn't work. I mean, have you tasted scotch?
It's the danger and skirting death that makes it fun.
putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
I strongly suspect this will, at best, make it *slightly* healthier. I mean, Coke Zero is probably technically healthier than Coke Classic, but neither are remotely as healthy for you as water.
Prof. David Nutt's work on a "synthetic alcohol" he calls alcosynth is likely to be vastly more healthy, because a) you are consuming the active ingredient in mg doses instead of gram doses, b) it doesn't release acetaldehyde, which is itself a deadly poison, and c) it "tops out", ie if it's designed to top out a 6 drinks, then 10 drinks won't make you any drunker than 6.
https://www.independent.co.uk/...
Science already invented a liver-safe "alcohol" millions of years ago. It's called "weed".
Which needs the additives ...
Mortality is not always a good endpoint. It's reasonable for something like heart disease modifiers, but if the study was done on say random hand amputation with immediate medical care then mortality would not be the right endpoint.
What about rates of depression / memory impairment / relationship breakdown / partner violence / educational outcomes / overall wellbeing? All of these are missed if you solely focus on mortality.
Dude, already tried, it didn't work. I mean, have you tasted scotch?
Yes, and it is sublime. In moderation.
Educate your palate where scotch is concerned. Start with Glenfiddich, a very inoffensive single malt. Work your way up through the malty, smoky, peaty scales of flavour, and before long, you'll be celebrating the powerful complexity of Laphroaig and Lagavulin. Sláinte!
If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
If this synthetic alcohol becomes popular, maybe it’ll drive the price of good whiskey down a bit. And maybe I’ll finally be able to find a bottle of Ol’ Pappy.
#DeleteChrome
“A waste of good gin.”
I kid, I kid...
#DeleteChrome
If something is bad for you and you refuse to stop doing it despite the negative consequences then it's called an addiction. If you drink so much that you destroy your own liver then you have earned your liver failure because that is no simple feat as it require years of heavy drinking. The only thing doing this would accomplish is enabling addicts in their addictions in a way that will be a further drain on society. This is the wrong approach to solving the problem at hand.
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
The only reason ethanol is legal(again in the US) is tradition and ease of production.
A kg of sugar, water, and a box of yeast makes several liters of shitty hooch in recycled soft drink bottles.
But as an alternative convince an alcoholic person who needs that gabbanergic tune-down to cut the ethanol partially or completely with something else which produces less toxin during metabolism in the liver. It will also plug the dangerous cold turkey detox hole.
I don't believe drug dependence can be solved until the self-medicator is able to solve the psychological stresses which causes them to seek an escape. There is actually evidence that prohibition or even a culture which prohibits the escape to intoxication leads more quickly to actual suicide.
I was an urban firefighter/paramedic in the PacNW, Heroin was bad, meth gnarly, but alcohol killed more and the worst cases were chronic alcoholism.
TLDR I suggest permitting without prescription gabbanergic (Benzodiazepines, diluted GHB, and similar) drugs other then ethanol with warning label to reduce harm society wide.
No, that isn't how the FDA works. You can add vitamin C to beer and sell it as "beer with extra vitamin C", and the FDA won't care (unless the addition of vitamin C somehow makes the beer more toxic). What the FDA cares about is when you start marketing it as having health benefits, especially if you start claiming that it cures or prevents some specific disease. Once you start talking about health benefits, you've moved away from selling beer and moved towards selling medicine, and there are strict requirements about proving safety and efficacy of medicines.
LOL I don't remember a cannon in Star Trek
What about the one where Kirk fashions some sort of rudimentary lathe^W cannon.
http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/...
SJW n. One who posts facts.
Yet weed has none of these effects, no hangover, and won't crash your car. Yet it is illegal.
Anyone remember "safer guns and safer bullets?" Sounds just as "smart."
Where do people sign up for the long term studies necessary for general approval?
In the immortal words of Freewheelin' Franklin, "Better living through chemistry!"...
Sure can. Tip it out the window.
Isn't alcohol fundamentally a toxin?
How does one make a toxin itself less toxic, yet not change it?
-Styopa
In the movies, they had photon torpedoes as devices put into something and launched. They didn't appear to have their own propulsion, so presumably they were fired at the enemy at very high speed.
And what about the thing Kirk built in the episode with the Gorn?
"When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
How about combining with L-Cysteine for anti-hangover effect?
https://www.ceri.com/alcohol.h...
I have been remembering this article for long time, but it's a bit problematic to get L-Cysteine and try it out