“molecules that transmit messages through the immune system.”
You mean the “whiskey molecules”?
The hangovers make drinking heavily totally not worth it to me. I’ll stick to one or two drinks a night, tops.
I bought a bottle of these a year ago from Amazon when I first heard about this. My anecdotal experience has been that it does seem to mellow the effects of intoxication but there’s a limit to how far it works. By the time you get drunk you’ve already surpassed the counter-effects of Dihydromyricetin so it’s difficult to ascribe exactly how much benefit this provides. It takes some experimentation to find the right dosage in order to prolong the “sweet spot” of feeling good without being drunk.
Also, no product is less proven.
The leading theory implicates a specific gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA)
I’m pretty sure that there are not many forms of GABA to specify amongst.
a.k.a. invulnerability molecules
I can’t even get drunk enough to get a hangover anymore. I apparently have developed some kind of adrenaline overreaction to alcohol’s depressant effects. More than a couple drinks will end with me having an overwhelming panic attack. Which is depressing as hell for a woman who loves beer.
I wish I’d known this last night.
The suppliers’ website links to articles suggesting that Dihydromyricetin reduces the urge to drink alcohol [if you’re a lab mouse], which is certainly one way of preventing a hangover, but it kind of misses the point.
This explains the superheroes.
And James Bond.
In a paper in 2006, Nutt showed how his very Star Trek-ish synthohol would work on a particular subtype of receptors for GABA, one not entirely understood.
Someday, my daughter will ask me how the zombie apocalypse started and why our little family of survivors only drinks Mad Dog 20/20.
GABA’s just GABA, but what it says is there’s a specific GABA receptor that’s involved. There could be any number of these (Wikipedia article on GABA receptors) that do different things and can be affected by different molecules besides GABA. (In fact, many psychoactive drugs, including recreationals and psych meds like SSRIs, work by blocking or activating neurotransmitter receptors in ways that are different from the normal functions.)
Decades of experimentation says that for me drinking a bunch of water just before sleep does the trick. And it doesn’t have to be during, so it’s not because you’re drinking less.
But it could certainly be because it’s diluting and/or flushing something rather than dehydration per se.
I noticed the part where Cory mentioned “a complementary brain receptor” as well as “a specific gamma aminobutyric acid”, but my New Year’s resolution was “Be more pedantic”.
One of those specific GABA receptors is involved in some familial forms of epilepsy, as it has an allelle that is less sensitive, leaving the brain in a chronic state of excitable under-inhibition. I can go on about that at length.
From the original article:
Alcohol has long been the only recreational drug for which scientists could not articulate a mechanism of action—which is to say, no one knew how it got you drunk
I am SHOCKED SHOCKED SHOCKED to find Wired publishing untruths.
Hey, wha joo goragains whuskay?
Here comes the devil, prowl around
One whisky for evey ghost
And I’m sorry for what I’ve done
Cause it’s me who knows what it cost
