Proof: The Science of Booze
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Read between December 11 - December 22, 2019
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Formic acid or formate, a product of the acid, inhibits the action of an enzyme called cytochrome oxidase, which is vital to a cell’s ability to use oxygen. Under normal conditions, the eyes, specifically the optic nerve, use a huge amount of oxygen—that’s why a couple of the first signs of suffocation are tunnel vision and the loss of the ability to see color. So with a big enough dose of methanol, the eyes go first. And ...
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The best theory going today about what really causes hangovers is that they are an inflammatory response, like what happens when we get an infection. Hangovers are accompanied by elevated levels of molecules called cytokines, molecules used as communications signals by the immune system.
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Jing Liang, started experimenting with herbs from her native China, beginning with the ones that traditional medicine claimed had an effect on alcohol. Liang has been sitting with us in the conference room, silent. Now she pipes up: “Hovenia. It’s been used in Asia for 500 years,” she says. “I found it in a grocery store.” “A grocery store?” Olsen says, impressed at her ingenuity. “Good for you.” The lab purified the plant until they had an ingredient that acted on the right receptor. It turned out to be a flavonoid, a common molecular family. It already had a name—ampelopsin—but they started ...more
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The anti-inflammatory Clotam, the vitamin B6 analogue pyritinol, Ayurvedic herbal compound Liv.52, and Opuntia ficus indica extract are the only four medicines or supplements that actual clinical trials have shown to be at all effective in treating hangovers. Add dihydromyricetin to the list—the thing Olsen isolated—even though it hasn’t had rigorous human trials. This is a chunk of information so vital that it demands a stunt.
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his team administered treatments to a group staying in a high-roller suite at the Wynn who were so sick they planned to leave, but after their IV fluids they called the pilot of their private jet and told him to get a hotel room to stay another night. This is the kind of story people tell about Las Vegas.
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When you’re grasping at straws, by definition your attitude is, “Oh, thank God, there are some straws here! Gimme!”
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