Drinking is fun, but hangovers are not fun. We all know this, and we've all had to balance the fun of a night out with the suffering of a morning after, but apparently scientists are getting closer than ever to creating an alcohol that completely does away with the headaches and nausea of hangovers. Cheers to that!
A new drink called alcosynth is currently being tested, and it promises to deliver the pleasant high of ingesting alcohol without the added pain later on or medical issues. Its creator, Imperial College's Professor of Neuropsychopharmacology David Nutt, told The Independent that he has hopes that his concoction will replace the alcohol available to us today by the year 2050. David Nutt says that his team has been developing a non-toxic drug that affects the brain in the same way as alcohol, but does not replicate any negative effects.
We know where the good effects of alcohol are mediated in the brain, and can mimic them. And by not touching the bad areas, we don't have the bad effects.
And these "bad effects" don't just include hangovers. Professor Nutt promises that his alcosynth drinks will not be harmful to the human liver or heart, as opposed to current alcohol. Nutt goes on to allege that it's only a matter of time before the alcohol industry undergoes a more health-conscious transformation.
People want healthier drinks. The drinks industry knows that by 2050 alcohol will be gone. They know that and have been planning for this for at least 10 years. But they don't want to rush into it, because they're making so much money from conventional alcohol.
Professor David Nutt and his team are currently aggressively testing two of the nearly 90 alcosynth compounds that he has patented. Reportedly, one of these compounds is bitter tasting, but the other is actually pretty tasteless. Apparently, the alcosynth drinks will also be able to stop voracious drinkers from taking things too far. That's right --- apparently, the new type of alcohol will stop you before you get to that "sloppy drunk" phase, as the effects will max out after a while.
We think the effects round out at about four or five 'drinks', then the effect would max out. We haven't tested it to destruction yet, but it's safer than drinking too much alcohol. With clever pharmacology, you can limit and put a ceiling on the effects, so you can't ever get as ill or kill yourself, unlike with drinking a lot of vodka.
So when can we get our hand on an alcosynth cocktail? Unfortunately, the large cost of funding Professor Nutt's research means that it could take a pretty long time for his product to be released mainstream. But the researcher seems hopeful and confident in his work. Bottoms up!
