Sunday, October 2, 2011

Act sober - but die of cirrhosis?


I'm in two minds about a medical 'advance' reported in the Telegraph.

Scientists are developing a "stay sober" pill which allows you to drink as much as you want while limiting the effects of alcohol on their brains.

In tests for the drug, mice given the drug did not even display signs of getting tipsy, despite being fed enough alcohol to make them stumble and fall over.

The research paves the way for a tablet that stops people embarrassing themselves on nights out.


There's more at the link.

The new pill may, indeed, be useful to prevent or limit drunken behavior: but I'm willing to bet it can't prevent the damage heavy drinkers do to their bodies by imbibing too freely for too long. What's the good of being able to act sober, even if you're not, when you're simultaneously accelerating your untimely death from alcoholic liver disease and/or cirrhosis?

Peter

4 comments:

  1. Sounds like the morning after pill, but used the night before :)

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  2. I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't do even more damage with the pill. Something has to be shut off to keep the effects of alcohol down, and the liver still has to metabolize all that poison.

    And of course, they're assuming that we drink the stuff solely for the taste.

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  3. Anyone else remember the tricycle race scene from Revenge of the Nerds?

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  4. Remember it? I've re-enacted it! Imagine me on a red Radio Flyer tricycle drinking cheap Korean beer.

    ReplyDelete

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