Kudzu Helps Curb Binge Drinking 98
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."
Well duh... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Well duh... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Well duh... (Score:1)
Re:Well duh... (Score:2)
Re:Well duh... (Score:1)
Re:Well duh... (Score:2)
Re:Well duh... (Score:2)
Exactly (Score:2)
Just what an alcoholic needs: more effective booze . .
However, it might be useful for alcoholics on a diet
hawk
This just in... (Score:4, Interesting)
Here's a quote from the Internet Health Library [internethe...ibrary.com]:
Next on CNN, researchers have determined that the sun rises in the east.
Re:This just in... (Score:2)
Scientists aren't naive, they just need proof. (Score:5, Informative)
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.
Re:This just in... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:This just in... (Score:3, Funny)
Well, ground horn of rhinoceros and dried tiger penis has been used to treat impotence and other ailments "safely and effectively" in China for for more than a millennium. Guess that has to work too.
Please cite your references.
Re:This just in... (Score:2, Funny)
What is this, a post for the sake of posting something? References? How about thousands of years of documented literature, lore, endangered species cries (you know, kill tiger, take penis, leave remains to rot. Ditto rhino and horn), black market crackdowns, illegal imports into North America, Europe et al?
You demanded references, I ask that you wait until you have something constructive to contribute before wailing on the Reply link.
Re:This just in... (Score:1, Offtopic)
Re:This just in... (Score:2, Informative)
rahh, you're missing the point here ... (Score:3, Insightful)
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
Re:rahh, you're missing the point here ... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:rahh, you're missing the point here ... (Score:2)
Night clubs make their money selling the beer. They will do everything they can to ban this because it is cheaper than beer and causes their customers to buy less beer.
Or did you mean night clubs will collect this the way that DeBeers collects diamonds? That I'd believe.
it is great to have a first had account (Score:1)
So that explains it! (Score:1)
Find a wall to hang-over (Score:2, Insightful)
If only beer grew this fast in the wild!
Re: (Score:2)
So... (Score:5, Funny)
"Here eat some already! It's all over the place now. And lay off the sauce."
Not so sure (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Not so sure (Score:3, Interesting)
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?
Since it enhances the effects, you could have one beer in two hours and feel and act the same as if you'd had two. So a breathalyzer or blood test would show a lower level of alcohol relative to the amount of impairment. If kudzu use becomes widespread we may have to adjust the legal BAC limits, or test for the kudzu-derived compound.
On the other hand, since you've consumed less alcohol, an
Re:Not so sure (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Not so sure (Score:2)
Based on the article it looks like BAC level is still elevated similarly as the control.
Ahh, I missed that. It makes sense, though.
Try this experiment with real alocoholics (or hardened binge drinkers) that don't naturally moderate their own consumption based on thier perceived level of enebriation, and they could possibly drink themselves into a coma.
Yeah, I thought the same thing. I guess that's one way to reduce alcoholism...
Re:Not so sure (Score:1)
Not really. Alcohol withdrawal can kill you, cocaine withdrawal can't. (In fact, some say there are no physical withdrawal symptoms and that cocaine should not be considered addictive, at least not in the same sense as opiates or alcohol.)
It's difficult to judge which is more likely to addict a user, since alcohol is available in a variety of strengths in our culture while cocaine is available only in purified extract form; but I'll note that nat
Re:Not so sure (Score:1)
Classically, addiction is defined by withdrawl, tolerance, continued use in the face of health problems, and repeated failed attempted to quit.
When the drug warriors noticed that the usage of some of the drugs they wanted to demonize (especially cannabis) didn't fit this pattern, they invented "psychological addiction", which means nothing more than "I like doing this so much it's hard to stop".
So that we now have the ridicul
Re:Not so sure (Score:2)
However, crack is staggeringly more addictive than cocaine (thus the amazingly higher penalties).
Just to play with your analogy, might kudzulcohol be far more addictive than alcohol?
hawk
90 minutes of FREEDOM (Score:2)
Increased BAC levels (Score:2, Informative)
Mmm.. salad (Score:1)
"Mmmm... please pass more viney leafy things."
The cure may be worse than the disease. (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
Re:The cure may be worse than the disease. (Score:2)
Sounds like a hook to a country and western song.
Ironically, Slashcode sems to think I'm a cowboy...
Re:The cure may be worse than the disease. (Score:2)
Is there any real evidence that drinking does have "cardiovascular benefits"?
From the sound of it, the only evidence there is in your post is this: "As people drink more, their chance of dying from things like heart disease continue to drop."
But... all that tells us is people who drink more tend to die from other causes before they'd die from (or develop) heart disease. As you stated: "However, above one drink per day deaths from accid
Re:The cure may be worse than the disease. (Score:3, Informative)
I think you might have more of a point if the effect started at four or five drinks, but most of the benefit comes from the first drink. Also, if your theory was correct, then as mortality from accident rises dramatically at three to four drinks, the mortality from heart at
Re:The cure may be worse than the disease. (Score:2)
lol, I don't know, I can see many volunteers for such a study. I mean... they conducted a study of fellatio (and sperm) on the effect of speech. There were fliers all over campus looking for vulunteers to get blow jobs. Somehow, giving someone a few drinks, I think, is not any less ethical.
- shazow
gurgling sounds? (Score:2)
hawk
Re:The cure may be worse than the disease. (Score:3, Informative)
Re:The cure may be worse than the disease. (Score:4, Insightful)
Maybe not so astonishing. What is astonishing is that the people who only do one net-less trapeze act a day have a lower mortality rate than the people sitting int the audience....
Over-the-Counter Kadzu didn't work. (Score:3, Informative)
Why is this newsworthy? (Score:3, Insightful)
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
Re:Why is this newsworthy? (Score:1)
Re:Why is this newsworthy? (Score:2)
--LWM
Re:Why is this newsworthy? (Score:2)
Re:Why is this newsworthy? (Score:2)
When it climbs the wall, it sure makes it difficult.
>or "kudzu stops lawn mowing"
[*nods*]
Yep, jams the mower up but good.
>or "kudzu stops grocery shopping" or "kudzu stops carjackings" or
Only if you trip, or if it made the alcohol to strong to find the car . .
hawk
New market - the 20oz!! (Score:3, Informative)
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.
Kudzu Kicker (Score:2)
Kudzu Kicker:
1 gram 25% Kudzu isoflavone extract
2 shots green Creme de Menthe
2 shots 151 proof rum
4 ounces ice
Place in blender on liquify.
Garnish with a sprig mint.
-
I drank lots of alcohol but (Score:3, Funny)
Remove Configuration, Keep Configuration, or Do Nothing
New hardware? (Score:3, Funny)
Vegetal medicines... (Score:1)
Re:Vegetal medicines... (Score:2, Informative)
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 [nih.gov].
Re:Vegetal medicines... (Score:1)
Furthermore, each volunteer hard drinker served as their own control -- one week they took the kudzu, next week they took nothing and drank anyway, week after that they took placebo, week after that they took nothing again and drank. Order of placebo first or kudzu first was randomized.
If you read the article, it's a rather elegant experimental de
Hardware Detection Stops Drinking? (Score:1)
It seems everyone else already knew about the vine that ate the south, yet here I am thinking this has something to do with hardware autodetection.
Re:Hardware Detection Stops Drinking? (Score:1)
Group Size (Score:1)
I have a pretty good alternative to Kudzu (Score:2)
Re:I have a pretty good alternative to Kudzu (Score:2)
Well, yeah, in the same way that a single oak tree in an oak forest is an obscure tree. I suppose if you were in Georgia and trying to locate a single particular kudzu leaf you'd have a hard time finding it among the literally kazillions of other kudzu leaves clogging up the drains.
But otherwise, it's a painfully obvious leaf. If it could be made into oil, the southeast of the US would be a surplus energy producer.
This isn't to say I disapprove of your proposed method, of co
Re:I have a pretty good alternative to Kudzu (Score:2)
How long before they ban kudzu? (Score:3, Insightful)
Intoxicating News (Score:2)
This is not news (Score:2)
Also, giving a mega dose of flavone plant extract to alcoholics seems like trench warfare waged on patient's liver.
Real news would be if a
Re:This is not news (Score:2)
The priest explained afterwards.
It was indeed "wine," but unfermented. His treatment program alternated their favorite poison with warm salt water.
They *did* get conditioned to avoid their former favorite, and even to have a very unpleasant association with it.
Unfermented wine has been approved for use by priests with alcohol problems. He commented that the Church didn't want
Awesome. (Score:2)
Awesome. This means we can get just as drunk for half the price, or twice as drunk for the same amount it costs us now!
Whatever! (Score:2)