New ‘golden’ pill that could mean the end of hangovers: It sounds too good to be true, but scientists may have finally discovered a way to enjoy alcohol without ANY harmful side effects

You may think it sounds too good to be true: a pill that allows you to enjoy alcohol without experiencing any harmful side effects.

But scientists are one step closer to developing this, with a gel that, if swallowed 30 minutes before your first drink, will prevent you from getting drunk or suffering alcohol-related damage to the liver and other organs.

The gel, which has only been tested on animals so far, works by breaking down alcohol into a harmless liquid as it passes through the gastrointestinal tract.

When we drink alcohol, it is absorbed through the mucous membrane that lines the stomach and intestines. It then enters the bloodstream, which transports it throughout the body, including to the brain, liver and kidneys.

Within five to ten minutes it begins to affect the brain and stimulates the release of ‘feel-good’ hormones dopamine and serotonin.

But as we drink more, the alcohol begins to depress the central nervous system, affecting speech, vision and coordination.

As the body – mainly the liver – metabolizes the alcohol, it converts the ethanol in it into another form of alcohol called acetaldehyde.

It is the acetaldehyde that contributes to many of the symptoms of a hangover, such as headaches, dehydration and fatigue, before eventually being converted into yet another liquid called acetic acid.

Acetic acid is colorless and harmless and is flushed out through the kidneys as urine.

A new gel (not shown) sits in the stomach and absorbs the alcohol before it can enter the bloodstream

The new gel, developed by researchers at ETH University in Zurich, Switzerland, sits in the stomach and absorbs the alcohol before it can enter the bloodstream, cleverly converting it into benign acetic acid. The acetic acid then passes through the stomach or intestines and enters our bloodstream.

Stripped of its toxic ingredients, alcohol produces neither the ‘highs’ we get from a few drinks nor the dreaded hangover.

Scientists mixed three ingredients together – iron, glucose and gold – that they discovered can trigger a reaction in the intestines that quickly breaks down the alcohol and turns it into acetic acid.

This mixture was added to a gel made from whey – a type of protein found in cow’s milk that is broken down very slowly in the intestines (meaning you can drink it up to 30 minutes before alcohol). The team then tested the gel on eight mice that were given small pieces of the gel and given alcohol twenty minutes later.

The results, published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, showed that the blood alcohol levels of gel-fed mice were almost half that of the other group.

Six hours later, all mice underwent tests to find their way out of a maze. Those who had the gel found the exit much faster.

Crucially, tests also showed that the large amounts of alcohol appeared to have no effect on the liver in the gel group, while in the other group their livers showed signs of inflammation.

The team has applied for a patent on the gel and hopes to test it on humans soon.

But if the gel not only stops the ‘pain’ of alcohol, but also all the pleasure, what is the real benefit?

“The obvious alternative is to drink less or not at all,” says David Nutt, professor of neuropsychopharmacology at Imperial College London.

‘The gel may be of some help to those who cannot cut back on alcohol, as it can reduce intoxication and alcohol-related harm,’ he says.

‘But for everyone else it doesn’t make economic sense because there would be the cost of the gel plus paying for the ‘wasted’ alcohol.

“Similar alcohol suppressant products have been tried in the past without much success,” he says. One of the most recent, launched in 2022, was a probiotic (made from gut-friendly bacteria such as Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus coagulans) called Myrkl, which was marketed by the Swedish company of the same name as a ‘pre-drinking pill’. The pill should be taken at least an hour before drinking.

The manufacturer claims that just two tablets, which cost £1 each, can reduce the amount of alcohol actually entering the bloodstream by around 70 per cent, instead being broken down into harmless water and carbon dioxide which is flushed out of the body through the body . kidneys.

But the evidence supporting Myrkl’s efficacy is limited, with only one human study, published in 2022 in the journal Nutrition and Metabolic Insights.

Researchers from the Pfutzner Science and Health Institute in Mainz, Germany, gave the probiotic tablet to 24 healthy young people before they were given alcohol.

The results showed that blood alcohol levels were 70 percent lower in the probiotic group than in those given a fake pill.

But could the slimming drug Wegovy reduce cravings at all?

Several animal studies have shown that Wegovy curbs the tendency to binge drink, although it is not currently licensed for this use. The drug is thought to work in a similar way to obesity: it dampens the ‘reward’ the brain gets when alcohol is consumed, reducing the urge to keep drinking.

Earlier this year, Novo Nordisk – the Danish company that makes Wegovy – announced it was planning a study to see if the drug could prevent alcohol-induced liver damage by reducing the amount people drink.