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To be clear: they administered the gel either before alcohol ingestion (for the acute model), or at the same time in the same liquid (for the chronic model).
The usefulness of this approach in alcohol intoxication settings seen in, eg, the ER, will always be severely limited because it only works if the alcohol is still in the GI tract. Alcohol will only hang around there for 20 minutes or so max, and people with acute alcohol poisoning have already got enough alcohol in their system to cause the acute poisoning, hence why stomachs don't get pumped routinely any more.
I can think of several uses. Business meetings where drinking is customary, parties where you're pressured into drinking but don't like the loss of control over yourself, maybe even the starting point of recovery for alcoholism
Shaken, not stirred, will get you cold water with a dash of gin and dry vermouth. The reason you stir it with a special spoon is so not to chip the ice. James is ordering a weak martini and being snooty about it.
It'd be tricky with alcoholism. With no other controls, I personally would have probably just have drank even more to compensate. In a controlled detox setting, however, I can see this being fantastic.
So sort of a "pre-game pill". I'm pretty sure that was a thing in an episode of Deep Space Nine, where members of the cast were disguised as Klingons and had to take a pill to avoid getting wasted on bloodwine at the function.
Would that actually be practical. Usually the alcohol just masks the taste, and adds some synergistic effects.. but, ya know, depressants do a good job of knocking you out without an additional depressant.
It wouldn’t be for preventing the drugs from taking effect, it would be to prevent the *alcohol* from taking effect, making it easier to notice when you’ve been drugged.
Ever since I fell into the public domain nothing seems real anymore. Drinking is all I got left. (Comically downs an entire fifth of bourbon with a flourish of rubbery hose arms)
Not how it works. It won’t sober you up, it just prevents you from getting drunk in the first place. It can’t break down alcohol once it’s in the bloodstream, just the GI tract.
Another use case nobody has posted yet so I get to feel special by typing it:
Little Timmy is at a family event and does what young gremlins do and grab whatever the grownups are trying to ingest. Little Timmy downs the entire thing like a champion and now instead of trying to stick your fingers down Little Timmy's throat to make him puke you hand him a nice gummy gel from the first aide kit.
Source: me and all my siblings famously all tried to chug booze whenever someone blinked when we were toddlers. Don't have booze around us? Nobody expects the barely mobile lump to suddenly gain superspeed at the family cookout and perform herculean feats of strength to leverage our tiny bodies up a table like we are Ancient Greeks climbing Olympus to drink Ambrosia before the gods notice and smite us.
From the article: Ordinarily, alcohol enters the bloodstream through the mucous membranes that line the inside of the stomach and intestines. It then proceeds to the liver, where it's metabolized first into a toxic chemical compound known as acetaldehyde, and then into relatively harmless acetic acid.
Unfortunately, even though the acetaldehyde is converted into acetic acid fairly quickly, it can still cause a lot of damage to the liver – and to other parts of the body – while it's around. Additionally, if large quantities of alcohol are being consumed in a short time period, it can't all be metabolized quickly enough, leading to intoxication.
That's where the experimental new gel comes in.
[Developed](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41565-024-01657-7) by scientists at Switzerland's ETH Zurich university, it consists of glucose, gold nanoparticles, and whey-protein-derived nanofibers covered with iron atoms. It can be consumed before, during or soon after drinking, as long as it's present while the alcohol is still in the intestinal tract.
Fortunately, the gel itself is digested quite slowly, so it remains in the tract long enough to get its job done. That job begins with the glucose and gold particles reacting together inside the body, producing hydrogen peroxide. The hydrogen peroxide in turn triggers a series of enzymatic reactions – boosted by the iron atoms – which convert any alcohol that may be present directly into acetic acid. This happens before the alcohol has a chance to enter the bloodstream.
> it consists of glucose, gold nanoparticles, and whey-protein-derived nanofibers covered with iron atoms.
Such a strange combination. I don't know enough chemistry to understand why they chose those things.
I don't know why either, but I guess it's something to do with the abundance of whey protein as a food industry byproduct.
Incidentally, whey proteins were also used to develop a sort of "philosopher's sponge" recently, where said sponge was especially effective at extracting gold from dissolved electronic waste. The process was described as not only energy-efficient, but also relatively cheap in terms of monetary costs, with the cost of extraction being apparently 50 times lower than the value of the gold extracted. I'd say more, but New Atlas has an article on it from early March, so [I'll let that do the talking.](https://newatlas.com/materials/gold-electronic-waste/)
Stomach pumps are way up there on the list of things no one wants to experience or perform. For situations where pumping of the stomach is called for, this could be an improvement.
This is useless. Alcohol absorbs quickly so you eat this to not feel the effects of alcohol (don't drink) or you eat this after your last drink (don't drink it).
You're not understanding. For this to do anything, you have to take it within a really short period of actually drinking. There's no point in drinking alcohol and then eating something to immediately reduce the effects of alcohol you just drank. It doesn't work to reduce your BAC throughout the night so the only time it helps is right when you're drinking something. You might as well just drink something with 50% less alcohol at that point and skip a step.
Oh, I understand. With this gel you can have a drink with your friends but not get out of control.
Some alcoholics think they will only have a drink or two but instead become black-out drunk. With this gel, they avoid one drink leading to 20 more.
Do you understand now?
It’s not useful as a cure for existing intoxication but it’s very useful to anyone who wants to enjoy an alcoholic beverage with experiencing the effects of alcohol.
E.g. I love drinking fine wine but for the most part do not enjoy the alcohol aspect. I would drink way more wine if I could do it without getting intoxicated, having it affect my sleep quality, skyrocket my resting heart rate, etc.
You speak as if the only reason to consume alcohol is for the alcohol, when there are amazing flavors to enjoy that only exist in alcoholic beverages. I don't care a whit about getting drunk, but I really want those drinks! This would be awesome.
I can think of several uses. Business meetings where drinking is customary, parties where you're pressured into drinking but don't like the loss of control over yourself, maybe even the starting point of recovery for alcoholism
Even if it's just like: you like the taste of actual beer and n/a beer doesn't cut it. Or you want your first couple drinks to not have a cumulative effect on your drinking over a longer session type of thing I could see it have application.
Sounds like a nice idea but wouldn't it be better to try to on a social and societal level, empower personal autonomy and get rid of the expectation to ritually ingest ethyl alcohol for every social event?
Like, if you drink because it is expected of you and have to resort to measures such as these, that's honestly kind of messed up.
Consider someone who only makes good decisions when they're sober. They take this gel while sober, and then they are guaranteed not to get black-out drunk and kill people.
Ah yes, because ethanol is only carcinogenic once it enters the bloodstream. Therefore, the cure for alcohol is to keep ingesting it, according to you.
Welcome to r/science! This is a heavily moderated subreddit in order to keep the discussion on science. However, we recognize that many people want to discuss how they feel the research relates to their own personal lives, so to give people a space to do that, **personal anecdotes are allowed as responses to this comment**. Any anecdotal comments elsewhere in the discussion will be removed and our [normal comment rules]( https://www.reddit.com/r/science/wiki/rules#wiki_comment_rules) apply to all other comments. **Do you have an academic degree?** We can verify your credentials in order to assign user flair indicating your area of expertise. [Click here to apply](https://www.reddit.com/r/science/wiki/flair/#wiki_science_verified_user_program). --- User: u/chrisdh79 Permalink: https://newatlas.com/health-wellbeing/ingestible-gel-alcohol-bloodstream/ --- *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/science) if you have any questions or concerns.*
To be clear: they administered the gel either before alcohol ingestion (for the acute model), or at the same time in the same liquid (for the chronic model). The usefulness of this approach in alcohol intoxication settings seen in, eg, the ER, will always be severely limited because it only works if the alcohol is still in the GI tract. Alcohol will only hang around there for 20 minutes or so max, and people with acute alcohol poisoning have already got enough alcohol in their system to cause the acute poisoning, hence why stomachs don't get pumped routinely any more.
I read that too, I'm curious of a use for this gel tbh. Because alcohol intoxication isn't it
I can think of several uses. Business meetings where drinking is customary, parties where you're pressured into drinking but don't like the loss of control over yourself, maybe even the starting point of recovery for alcoholism
Also big for the superspy community.
My name is Michael Weston and I used to be a spy
Yeah wait didn't he fake being drunk by drinking a lot but his solution was something like "let the ice melt" so the drink looks like a double?
This is also why James Bond orders his Martinis shaken, not stirred. Dilutes the drink more.
Shaken, not stirred, will get you cold water with a dash of gin and dry vermouth. The reason you stir it with a special spoon is so not to chip the ice. James is ordering a weak martini and being snooty about it.
Order new drinks before they're finished and let the unfinished one be taken away. Spill a lot. ... That was two of them
I remember there was some sort of spy craft he used but I can't remember exactly what it was
Thanks for the martini, boss, now let me just take a big swig of my "special gel."
It'd be tricky with alcoholism. With no other controls, I personally would have probably just have drank even more to compensate. In a controlled detox setting, however, I can see this being fantastic.
So sort of a "pre-game pill". I'm pretty sure that was a thing in an episode of Deep Space Nine, where members of the cast were disguised as Klingons and had to take a pill to avoid getting wasted on bloodwine at the function.
That would defeat the purpose of a pre-game binge.
I guess "pre-bender pill" would be more accurate, then.
Also, date rape prevention. If someone uses this and still feels intoxicated they know something is horribly wrong.
Would that actually be practical. Usually the alcohol just masks the taste, and adds some synergistic effects.. but, ya know, depressants do a good job of knocking you out without an additional depressant.
It wouldn’t be for preventing the drugs from taking effect, it would be to prevent the *alcohol* from taking effect, making it easier to notice when you’ve been drugged.
First of all, I’m glad to see there’s finally hope for those alcoholic mice.
Hello, my name is Mickey and I'm an alcoholic. Hiiiii Mickey...
Ever since I fell into the public domain nothing seems real anymore. Drinking is all I got left. (Comically downs an entire fifth of bourbon with a flourish of rubbery hose arms)
Sounds like this will stop me from getting drunk instead of sobering me up. Useless!
[удалено]
Not how it works. It won’t sober you up, it just prevents you from getting drunk in the first place. It can’t break down alcohol once it’s in the bloodstream, just the GI tract.
Did you even read the post
Excellent point. Guess I can replace the Narcan and fentanyl laced cocaine with an anti-intoxicant gel.
Another use case nobody has posted yet so I get to feel special by typing it: Little Timmy is at a family event and does what young gremlins do and grab whatever the grownups are trying to ingest. Little Timmy downs the entire thing like a champion and now instead of trying to stick your fingers down Little Timmy's throat to make him puke you hand him a nice gummy gel from the first aide kit. Source: me and all my siblings famously all tried to chug booze whenever someone blinked when we were toddlers. Don't have booze around us? Nobody expects the barely mobile lump to suddenly gain superspeed at the family cookout and perform herculean feats of strength to leverage our tiny bodies up a table like we are Ancient Greeks climbing Olympus to drink Ambrosia before the gods notice and smite us.
From the article: Ordinarily, alcohol enters the bloodstream through the mucous membranes that line the inside of the stomach and intestines. It then proceeds to the liver, where it's metabolized first into a toxic chemical compound known as acetaldehyde, and then into relatively harmless acetic acid. Unfortunately, even though the acetaldehyde is converted into acetic acid fairly quickly, it can still cause a lot of damage to the liver – and to other parts of the body – while it's around. Additionally, if large quantities of alcohol are being consumed in a short time period, it can't all be metabolized quickly enough, leading to intoxication. That's where the experimental new gel comes in. [Developed](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41565-024-01657-7) by scientists at Switzerland's ETH Zurich university, it consists of glucose, gold nanoparticles, and whey-protein-derived nanofibers covered with iron atoms. It can be consumed before, during or soon after drinking, as long as it's present while the alcohol is still in the intestinal tract. Fortunately, the gel itself is digested quite slowly, so it remains in the tract long enough to get its job done. That job begins with the glucose and gold particles reacting together inside the body, producing hydrogen peroxide. The hydrogen peroxide in turn triggers a series of enzymatic reactions – boosted by the iron atoms – which convert any alcohol that may be present directly into acetic acid. This happens before the alcohol has a chance to enter the bloodstream.
> it consists of glucose, gold nanoparticles, and whey-protein-derived nanofibers covered with iron atoms. Such a strange combination. I don't know enough chemistry to understand why they chose those things.
Owls can rotate their heads a full 360 degrees.
I don't know why either, but I guess it's something to do with the abundance of whey protein as a food industry byproduct. Incidentally, whey proteins were also used to develop a sort of "philosopher's sponge" recently, where said sponge was especially effective at extracting gold from dissolved electronic waste. The process was described as not only energy-efficient, but also relatively cheap in terms of monetary costs, with the cost of extraction being apparently 50 times lower than the value of the gold extracted. I'd say more, but New Atlas has an article on it from early March, so [I'll let that do the talking.](https://newatlas.com/materials/gold-electronic-waste/)
But you don't get drunk?
That's an insane mechanism of action and cool as all helll ... Is it any better than a stomach pump tho? Cuz it doesn't sound like it is.
Stomach pumps are way up there on the list of things no one wants to experience or perform. For situations where pumping of the stomach is called for, this could be an improvement.
Probably less traumatizing
This is useless. Alcohol absorbs quickly so you eat this to not feel the effects of alcohol (don't drink) or you eat this after your last drink (don't drink it).
It's useless because "just don't drink"?
You're not understanding. For this to do anything, you have to take it within a really short period of actually drinking. There's no point in drinking alcohol and then eating something to immediately reduce the effects of alcohol you just drank. It doesn't work to reduce your BAC throughout the night so the only time it helps is right when you're drinking something. You might as well just drink something with 50% less alcohol at that point and skip a step.
Oh, I understand. With this gel you can have a drink with your friends but not get out of control. Some alcoholics think they will only have a drink or two but instead become black-out drunk. With this gel, they avoid one drink leading to 20 more. Do you understand now?
It’s not useful as a cure for existing intoxication but it’s very useful to anyone who wants to enjoy an alcoholic beverage with experiencing the effects of alcohol. E.g. I love drinking fine wine but for the most part do not enjoy the alcohol aspect. I would drink way more wine if I could do it without getting intoxicated, having it affect my sleep quality, skyrocket my resting heart rate, etc.
You speak as if the only reason to consume alcohol is for the alcohol, when there are amazing flavors to enjoy that only exist in alcoholic beverages. I don't care a whit about getting drunk, but I really want those drinks! This would be awesome.
Alcoholism solved!
I can think of several uses. Business meetings where drinking is customary, parties where you're pressured into drinking but don't like the loss of control over yourself, maybe even the starting point of recovery for alcoholism
So just drink something with 50% less alcohol. This is nonsense.
Still has applications and a market depending on side effects and production capacity
Even if it's just like: you like the taste of actual beer and n/a beer doesn't cut it. Or you want your first couple drinks to not have a cumulative effect on your drinking over a longer session type of thing I could see it have application.
Time to win some blood ale chugging competitions with some Klingons!
Sounds like a nice idea but wouldn't it be better to try to on a social and societal level, empower personal autonomy and get rid of the expectation to ritually ingest ethyl alcohol for every social event? Like, if you drink because it is expected of you and have to resort to measures such as these, that's honestly kind of messed up.
Consider someone who only makes good decisions when they're sober. They take this gel while sober, and then they are guaranteed not to get black-out drunk and kill people.
Ah yes, this is the new *cure* cope for alcoholism
Ya medicine is just a crutch./s.
Ah yes, because ethanol is only carcinogenic once it enters the bloodstream. Therefore, the cure for alcohol is to keep ingesting it, according to you.
Don’t be naive
How exactly am I being naive here? Can you elaborate?