Real-World Synthehol In Development 273
Posted
by
timothy
from the volstead-was-an-alien dept.
from the volstead-was-an-alien dept.
Ada_Rules writes "Researchers at the Imperial College London have announced development of an alcohol substitute that has many of the same properties as the Synthehol from the series Star Trek, in that one will get a buzz from it but will not end up with a hangover. In addition you will have the option of getting immediately sober if you so desire it. Let's hope this is not the typical vaporware. It is not that I really want a drink of Synthehol, but with its release I assume Romulan Ale won't be far behind."
Re:Headache? (Score:5, Informative)
I was always under the impression that taking paracetamol and other similar drugs along with alcohol was rather unhealthy to the liver and whatnot...
Drinking lots of water is always good though!
Re:Headache? (Score:3, Informative)
Mixing acetaminophen with alcohol is terrible advice.
Re:Headache? (Score:5, Informative)
You are correct. Paracetamol which is better known as Tylenol, metabolises into N-acetyl-p-benzoquinoneimine which is what actually damages the Liver. [wikipedia.org]
Re:Headache? (Score:5, Informative)
Uh, no. Put down the drink, it seems to have damaged your brain.
The primary cause of most hangover symptoms is very simple: Dehydration. The rest are caused by the presence of metabolic by-products of alcohol, which cause, among other things, a decline in available glucose for use by the brain, inhibition of liver function, and vitamin B12 deficiency.
For more information, wikipedia is your friend [wikipedia.org].
Re:Whats Next? (Score:3, Informative)
The second is already done. It's given to addicts to ease them off the real stuff.
Re:Missing the point... (Score:3, Informative)
You're the kind of guy that pisses on rugs :)
Changed my mind ... anyone, and I mean anyone, who links to a ska punk band in their sig, is a freakin' god ...
Oh, and here is my retort:
http://artists.letssingit.com/bad-manners-lyrics-special-brew-sjbnxkj [letssingit.com]
Re:Whats Next? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:And yet, whisky causes worse hangovers than vod (Score:4, Informative)
Clearly Wikipedia is the font of all knowledge (that was sarcasm (for the Americans)). You haven't had your brain replaced by a parrot brain have you?
Huh, clearly you're not illiterate, yet you apparently didn't even read the article I posted, which explicitly mentioned cogeners as exacerbating hangover symptoms.
Meanwhile, nowhere in the article you linked to do I see text which suggests that "It isn't the alcohol which gives you a headache"... probably because that's completely false.
Actually, we do have safe alcohol substitute (Score:5, Informative)
You can't handle the truth [boston.com]. Dr. David Nutt, the British government scientist that was recently fired, did an exhaustive study of the real impact of recreational drugs. Herion was 8.32, alcohol 5.54, Cannabis 4.00, LSD 3.68 and Ecstacy 3.27. A higher score is worse.( Many other drugs were in the study).
So we already have several safer alternatives to alcohol.
Re:Headache? (Score:4, Informative)
and yet the article in wikipedia clearly says...
"Hypoglycemia, dehydration, acetaldehyde intoxication, and vitamin B12 deficiency are all theorized causes of hangover symptoms".
so how can you authoritatively assert what causes a hangover when the scientists, at least according to that article, aren't even sure?
Re:Headache? (Score:5, Informative)
Paracetamol which is better known as Tylenol
Paracetamol is not better known as Tylenol, only a tiny proportion of the world population know paracetamol as Tylenol.
And the GP is not correct.
along with alcohol was rather unhealthy to the liver
Paracetamol is metabolized whether there is alcohol involved or not; Paracetamol is unhealthy for the liver regardless.
Re:Headache? (Score:3, Informative)
All American vodkas are equivalently tasteless due to stringent industry regulations on filtering for products bearing the label of vodka. American vodkas are, in fact, pretty much pure ethanol and water.
Re:Headache? (Score:4, Informative)
You are correct. This [slashdot.org] however does make slashdot US centric.
From the slashdot FAQ: Slashdot is U.S.-centric.
Re:I'll drink with Scotty... (Score:3, Informative)
No, no you won't.
If it's Scotch you drink, it's called Whisky. If it's whiskey you drink, it's no' Scotch!
Re:Better Profit Through Pharmaceuticals (Score:4, Informative)
Your friend was talking out of his or her ass.
I take benzos on a relatively regular basis (like once or twice a month) as a useful anti-anxiety tool, and they have improved my life. Don't demonize them because some people think it's a good idea to pop them like candy.
Re:Headache? (Score:2, Informative)
Drinking lots of water is always good though!
That's what Leah Betts [wikipedia.org] thought.
Re:Headache? (Score:2, Informative)
Paracetamol is metabolized whether there is alcohol involved or not; Paracetamol is unhealthy for the liver regardless.
Acetaminophen (*ahem*) is metabolized through two pathways. One uses reducing equivalents (-SH groups) and the other not. The first produces a non-toxic metabolite, the other does not. (check out this diagram [aspetjournals.org]) As long as you have reducing equivalents, you're fairly safe. Metabolizing alcohol uses up those reducing equivalents, so it makes acetaminophen toxicity a lot worse.
Re:No thanks, I'm drinking. (Score:3, Informative)
Most leaves used for tea also contain caffeine
There's only one leaf used to make tea, and that would be the tea leaf. But yes, it has caffeine.
Pretty much none of the other common herbal infusions have any caffeine in them. In fact Yerba Mate is the only one I know of that does have any caffeine.
Re:Headache? (Score:3, Informative)
Safe Alcohol wouldn't get licensed (Score:3, Informative)
But its also a concern that if synthehol was produced, how would we know if it was safe of not, it would take usage by milliions over they adult lifetime, before we genuinely know weather the chemical was safe.
But good luck to Prof, Knut, who will probably have some very wild parties testing outs his candiate benzodiazepines.
---
Drug Addiction [feeddistiller.com] Feed @ Feed Distiller [feeddistiller.com]
Re:Headache? (Score:4, Informative)
Yes.
Alcohol is unhealthy for the liver.
Paracetamol is unhealthy for the liver.
Alcohol + Paracetamol is rather unhealthy for the liver.
Re:Headache? (Score:3, Informative)
I was always under the impression that taking paracetamol and other similar drugs along with alcohol was rather unhealthy to the liver and whatnot...
If you're at a level where you're hung over, Paracetamol will damage your liver.[1] However, the liver regenerate quickly, so if you only do this occasionally and have nothing that blocks liver regeneration generally, this should be relatively safe. My wife is an MD; her toxicology teacher recommended use of Paracetamol against hangover rather than Ibuprofen or other NSAIDs, as the increased risk of stomach damage from the alcohol/NSAID combination was more of a problem than the liver damage.
Eivind.
[1] Alcohol is converted to acetaldehyde as a part of the breakdown process; cystein is consumed by the process that handle acetaldehyde safely (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cysteine [wikipedia.org]) and the poisonous effects of breakdown products of acetaldehyde when you lack cystein seems to be a large part of being "properly hung over". Paracetamol poisoning comes from lack of glutathione in the handling of paracetamol breakdown products; glutathione is made from cystein in the body, so having a hangover (lacking cystein) implies that paracetamol will rapidly deplete glutathione and the breakdown will be poisonous.