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New gel breaks down alcohol in the body

ethz.ch

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Re: New gel breaks down alcohol in the body

#11

Post by emmanuel_1234 »

throwup238 wrote: post #4

> In the future, people who take the gel could reduce the harmful and intoxicating effects of alcohol. I understand harm reduction but what is the point of reducing the intoxicating effects of alcohol? What's the point?

From alcohol, I love:

- drinking it: I really enjoy the feeling of just ingesting beer, wine or spirits, especially with friends or family

- having a nice buzz from it.

However, those two things are, for me, incompatible. If I start drinking a little bit, I usually don't stop until I'm way beyond the "nice buzz". As the joke goes, "one beer is not enough, two beers are just enough, three beers really aren't enough".

Having something that would allow me to keep drinking without jeopardizing my body, my mind, and the day after would be a huge game changer.

Re: New gel breaks down alcohol in the body

#12

Post by 2024throwaway »

alamortsubite wrote: post #9
throwup238 wrote: post #4

> In the future, people who take the gel could reduce the harmful and intoxicating effects of alcohol. I understand harm reduction but what is the point of reducing the intoxicating effects of alcohol? What's the point?

Non-alcoholic beer sales are close to $40B/year globally and going up. Generally speaking, the flavor of non-alcoholic beer pales in comparison to the real thing. Then there's also the market for wine and spirits.

There are some new, very good, NA beers on the market these days. Untitled Art and Athletic are two brands that are doing great work.

Re: New gel breaks down alcohol in the body

#13

Post by ravenstine »

alamortsubite wrote: post #9
throwup238 wrote: post #4

> In the future, people who take the gel could reduce the harmful and intoxicating effects of alcohol. I understand harm reduction but what is the point of reducing the intoxicating effects of alcohol? What's the point?

Non-alcoholic beer sales are close to $40B/year globally and going up. Generally speaking, the flavor of non-alcoholic beer pales in comparison to the real thing. Then there's also the market for wine and spirits.

> Generally speaking, the flavor of non-alcoholic beer pales in comparison to the real thing.

Ehhh... that's a bit of an overstatement, though I mostly agree.

I just happened to be doing a crapload of bar hopping this last month and got into trying different non-alcoholic beers because they're way more prevalent than they used to be.

They're certainly a lot better than the nonalcoholic beers of yore. And it's also obvious that you're not drinking a traditional beer. Undoubtedly, it has to do with the lack of ethanol present, but I can't help but think it's got to do with the process of producing them. Nonalcoholic beers, from what I've noticed, are usually much less foamy than alcoholic beer.

I will generally still drink alcoholic beer since I don't seem to have alcoholism in me, but I think it's great that people are being given options. When I was younger, I really hated it when people would pressure me to drink or act like I'm an alien for not wanting to drink, and nonalcoholic beer is inconspicuous enough that people can drink socially without the peculiar attitude. Although that attitude seems to have largely gone away anyway.

Re: New gel breaks down alcohol in the body

#14

Post by throwaway984393 »

joekrill wrote: post #10
throwup238 wrote: post #4

> In the future, people who take the gel could reduce the harmful and intoxicating effects of alcohol. I understand harm reduction but what is the point of reducing the intoxicating effects of alcohol? What's the point?

There's many occasions where I don't want to drink, but not doing so can make things uncomfortable. It's unfortunate, but there's lots of occasions where abstaining can make other people uncomfortable, or cause them to give you a hard time, or any number of other things. I would love to be able to take something that allows me drink but with none of the side effects, just to avoid potential uncomfortable situations.…

[dead]

Re: New gel breaks down alcohol in the body

#15

Post by ahahahahah »

2024throwaway wrote: post #12
alamortsubite wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Non-alcoholic beer sales are close to $40B/year globally and going up. Generally speaking, the flavor of non-alcoholic beer pales in comparison to the real thing. Then there's also the market for wine and spirits.

There are some new, very good, NA beers on the market these days. Untitled Art and Athletic are two brands that are doing great work.

Yes, those both make some good NA beers. I wouldn't categorize them as good beers, but they are drinkable.

Re: New gel breaks down alcohol in the body

#17

Post by FredPret »

joekrill wrote: post #10
throwup238 wrote: post #4

> In the future, people who take the gel could reduce the harmful and intoxicating effects of alcohol. I understand harm reduction but what is the point of reducing the intoxicating effects of alcohol? What's the point?

There's many occasions where I don't want to drink, but not doing so can make things uncomfortable. It's unfortunate, but there's lots of occasions where abstaining can make other people uncomfortable, or cause them to give you a hard time, or any number of other things. I would love to be able to take something that allows me drink but with none of the side effects, just to avoid potential uncomfortable situations.…

If people are uncomfortable with you not drinking, that's very much on them

Re: New gel breaks down alcohol in the body

#18

Post by cvdub »

circlefavshape wrote: post #8

Something to sober you up if you're already drunk would be amazing, but I don't think this will do that

Agreed, not seeing many good use cases. It could be prescribed to alcoholics who can’t/won’t stop drinking to help them taper off alcohol, but people would just end up drinking more to counter it.

The best use I can think of is for undercover agents to drink heavily and avoid intoxication!

Re: New gel breaks down alcohol in the body

#19

Post by CaptainOfCoit »

emmanuel_1234 wrote: post #11
throwup238 wrote: post #4

> In the future, people who take the gel could reduce the harmful and intoxicating effects of alcohol. I understand harm reduction but what is the point of reducing the intoxicating effects of alcohol? What's the point?

From alcohol, I love: - drinking it: I really enjoy the feeling of just ingesting beer, wine or spirits, especially with friends or family - having a nice buzz from it. However, those two things are, for me, incompatible. If I start drinking a little bit, I usually don't stop until I'm way beyond the "nice buzz". As the joke goes, "one beer is not enough, two beers are just enough, three beers really aren't enough".…

Sounds like maybe the "alcohol free"/"0.0%" beer (not really 100% alcohol free) is something you should try. Tastes and looks like beer, but doesn't come with the buzz (which is the thing that your brain hooks into and uses to tell you it isn't enough yet).

Re: New gel breaks down alcohol in the body

#20

Post by striking »

tguvot wrote: post #3

pretty sure it's what zbiotics do

Zbiotics targets acetaldehyde, not ethyl alcohol. From the article:

> The gel shifts the breakdown of alcohol from the liver to the digestive tract. In contrast to when alcohol is metabolised in the liver, no harmful acetaldehyde is produced as an intermediate product,” explains Professor Raffaele Mezzenga from the Laboratory of Food & Soft Materials at ETH Zurich. Acetaldehyde is toxic and is responsible for many health problems caused by excessive alcohol consumption.

Using this gel would manifest as simply not being as intoxicated, whereas Zbiotics is intended to allow for intoxication but prevent the hangover afterwards.

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