Of course, it is also the price you pay sometimes.
You play, you pay !
Homebrewing Ping.
On or off the Homebrewers Ping List just let me know.
Cheers,
knewshound
Brew Your Own
Posted on 05/31/2006 12:54:30 PM PDT by anymouse
Acetaldehyde may be the culprit behind hangovers, according to new research from Japan.
Alcohol consumption is an integral part of many cultures, not least the Japanese business culture, according to Masako Yokoyama of the Mitsukoshi Health and Welfare Foundation and colleagues. The problem many East Asians have in drinking alcohol is that their livers have a mutant form of the enzyme aldehyde dehydrogenase-2 (ALDH2), which in other people eliminates the acetaldehyde formed by ethanol metabolism, but often fails to do its job properly in East Asians, which means they suffer worse hangovers as this toxic compound stays in their system at higher concentrations than it would otherwise do so. Hangovers can have substantial economic drawbacks, leading sufferers to skip work, for instance.
"Many Japanese love the idea of group harmony," explains Yokoyama, "Going out drinking with various colleagues after work is an essential element of Japanese business society. It is socially acceptable to get fairly drunk on such occasions." Hiromasa Ishii, president of the Japanese Medical Society of Alcohol Studies and Drug Dependence and Professor Emeritus at Keio University in Tokyo, concurs. "Drinking alcoholic beverages with working colleagues after a customary ten-hour day at the office is an important part of business society in Japan, despite the fact that 40 to 45% of the Japanese people possess inactive ALDH2," he said.
Cardiovascular complications, drowsiness, nausea, asthma, and facial flushing are commonly seen in East Asians with the mutant allele ALDH2*2 which leads to inactive ALDH2. Many people with this allele avoid heavy drinking because of the unpleasant consequences, but the Japanese business drinking culture is seeing an increasing number of Japanese with inactive ALDH2 drinking more than is good for them.
Both Yokoyama and Ishii believe that, despite the initial inhibitory effects that a genetic mutation of ALDH2 can have on alcohol consumption, tolerance to the negative effects of alcohol and acetaldehyde may nonetheless develop if heavy drinking continues. "Understanding the inhibitory effects of ALDH2 on drinking is incomplete," explains Yokoyama, "however, we know that 26% of heavy drinkers among urban working men and 12% of alcoholics in Japan have inactive heterozygous ALDH2. It would appear that alcohol flushing diminishes in intensity in individuals with long or frequent drinking histories, suggesting the development of tolerance to acetaldehydemia."
The researchers found in their study that the amount of drinking reported that led to a hangover was significantly less for both men and women who were heterozygous for the inactive ALDH2 compared to those with active ALDH2. Further analysis of male participants indicated that those who had experienced more than three hangovers during the past year were more likely to report alcohol flushing and have elevated MCV, both of which are indicators of high acetaldehyde exposure due to drinking in persons with inactive ALDH2. In other words, individuals with inactive ALDH2 do not appear to have the capability to eliminate acetaldehyde from their systems, which is why they are more susceptible to hangovers.
Both Yokoyama and Ishii noted that this study's findings highlight the importance that hyper-acetaldehydemia appears to play in the development of hangovers, and help to reconfirm the more general role that alcohol-induced acetaldehyde plays in the damage of living human cells, and also point out the need for future research to focus on the damage caused by acetaldehyde rather than its precursor, alcohol.
Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, 2005, 29; http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/01.ALC.0000172457.62535.EE
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_flush_reaction
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acetaldehyde
Is real "Snythahol" just around the corner?
Imagine the marketing potential. :)
Imagine how many more alcohol problems there will be if hangovers are not a deterrent.
Actually, it's already been determined a fairly large dosage of the B-Vitamin group, along with a bottle of water, about 30 minutes prior to drinking will go a long way to decreasing this issue.
One asprin and Omega-3 FA will also decrease the inflamation (taken before, as well).
They've got to be kidding, right?
I knew about aldehyde/acetylaldehyde and their roles in hangovers ten years ago. To avoid hangover, on occasions when a hangover might be anticipated, hyperdose the B vitamins and get extra water. It's as simple as a Stresstab Zinc with an extra liter of water before going out and repeated upon returning home. This provides extra ammo for metabolizing that aldehyde into harmless byproducts.
Or, just stick to beer with no rice or preservatives.
Precisely.
RACISM! We're all the same!! There are NO differences between races or genders. It's TRUE!! A feminist told me so!!! This is RACISMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!
I'm not so sure. How many people get into the serious booze via "hair of the dog" drinking? Once you're drinking in the mornings, you're carrying a pretty heavy burden.
Then why can't I get Sickle Cell anemia or Tay-Sachs disease?........
Imagine how many less heroin addicts we would have if you didn't have to inject it. (/sarc)
I would think there are a lot of B's in tomatoe juice, but I don't know.
The extra salt in tobasco (when accompanied by water) is also handy.
There already is a real hangover cure, it's a two parter:
1 - don't drink the cheap stuff, cheap booze has more impurities that beat up your body
2 - rehydrate after drinking, alcohol dehydrates you, and the half of the hangover that isn't caused by low level poisoning from the cheap stuff is caused by dehydration
Follow that simple advice and you can drink like WC Fields and not hate life in the morning.
O2 afterwords helps a lot, too.
Or, just stick to beer with no rice or preservatives.
That's not possible in Japan, or at least wasn't in the 70's. Kirin was the most popular beer in Japan, and seemed designed to increase hangovers.
Drink Skyy Vodka...this substance has been distilled out.
"Once you're drinking in the mornings, you're carrying a pretty heavy burden."
Whenever I've overdone it in the past, just the thought of alcohol would make me feel ill, and the smell of it would actually make me sick. I don't know how people do it. I'd think you're just delaying the inevitable, and it will only get worse, so why not take your lumps now and be done with it. Until the next time, at least, lol.
Regarding O2, my father was a diver in the Navy and he still brags about curing a hangover in ten-twenty minutes on the O2 tanks with his diving gear. LOL
Tomato juice and Tabasco sauce works for me...
Or was that his welding gear? I've forgotten.
A real hangover remedy is drinking more of the same stuff one was consuming the evening before. Not for nothing one can drink down a hangover.
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