Rumours: Alcohol Substitute

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January 4, 2011

01:47

We humans LOVE our spirits. Since ancient times, we have used ethyl alcohol derived from potatoes, sugarcane, crabapples, rice, berries, pretty much anything with sugar - even milk and snake bile - as a social lubricant. Yet, the problem of the hangover lingers. And lingers…

Vitamin drinks and pepto aside, the price to be paid for a night of indulgence is often harsh - ask almost anyone on New Year's Day! - but one bold researcher from Imperial College London dreams of a future devoid of the dreaded hangover.

In this video, Science in Seconds lets you in on his vision.

_{Host: Rheanna Sand

Photo Credits: Wikimedia commons users Ehud Kenan, Dezidor, Japalac.

References:}_{http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-01/synthetic-alcohol-gives-drinkers-pleasant-buzz-without-hangover-addiction

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18099-david-nutt-governments-should-get-real-on-drugs.html

http://www1.imperial.ac.uk/medicine/people/d.nutt/publications/}_{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benzodiazepine}

YOUR COMMENTS

Chris Buzon on January 04, 2011

Seeing how closely the substitute is related to fun-time drugs like Valium, I think I will take my chances with a substance that is several thousand years in trials. Known evils...or unknown (and expensive?) Substitutes. Plus, alcohol has a pretty strong effect on taste receptors - can benzodiazapene really say the same?

:D