Melbourne: Calling all the cocktail lovers, hangover-free cocktails are soon coming to you.
A group of scientists have created a drink that mirrors the effects of regular alcohol minus, the dreaded part 'hangover'. We all know very well the consequences associated with a big night of drinking from the unbearable headache to dry mouth to uneasy stomach and general feeling of self-pity.
No one wants to have a hangover, although not drinking is also not an option. In fact, people will go to any extend to avoid one. Cures range from the obvious like drinking plenty of water and popping a couple of aspirin before bed to eating prickly pear cactus, throwing back some activated charcoal and having sex. But navigating your way through the ever growing list of miracle hangover cures may be a thing of the past, with the invention of a new synthetic alcohol that eliminates the risk of a hangover all together.
Drugs scientist and Imperial College Professor, David Nutt has created the aptly named 'alcosynth', which is designed to mirror the effects of alcohol minus the throbbing headache. According to Professor Nutt, he has plans to roll out alcosynth in over one hundred cocktail bars by 2020, reports news.com.au.
Over the decade, his team has been experimenting with approximately 80 different substances that imitate the way alcohol works on the brain but pose less of a health risk.
"I've been working in this field since 2005 without any (commercial) success. So a couple of years ago I started working with business people who explained that I would have to get investors," he told. "We formed this company to explore a range of alcohol alternatives. The current plan is development as a foodstuff. We would hope to take this through the FSA to conform with the levels of safety and toxicology criteria for a food ingredient," he added.
The reason you can go out and chug alcosynth all night without feeling like death the next day but you can't do the same with margaritas is because of a compound called acetaldehyde. This is the compound that is responsible for hangovers when it gets broken down in the liver but, unlike regular alcohol, alcosynth doesn't cause a buildup of acetaldehyde, meaning you get to skip the nasty hangover. Professor Nutt has hopes that alcosynth will be able to replace all regular alcohol by 2050.
