Tag Archives: Alcohol

Miraculous Recovery: Man Saved by Fecal Transplant After Intestine Produces Alcohol

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A corrective approach to alter a man’s microbiome prevented excessive alcohol production in his body.

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A Massachusetts man experienced severe inebriation due to his intestines autonomously producing alcohol, a condition known as autobrewer syndrome. His recovery began after ingesting fecal bacteria from a healthy donor.

This retired U.S. Marine, in his 60s, faced unusual symptoms following multiple antibiotic treatments for prostate inflammation. Until then, he maintained good health and only occasionally drank alcohol. His sudden, overwhelming intoxication left him disoriented and lethargic.

He sought help at emergency rooms repeatedly, but medical staff were skeptical about his claims of not drinking. Eventually, a diagnosis of autobrewer syndrome—a rare condition where gut microbes produce excessive alcohol—was confirmed.

His severe inebriation hindered routine activities, and he even required breathalyzer locks on his vehicles to avoid legal issues.

After connecting with a patient support group, he discovered fecal transplants could potentially treat his condition. This led him to contact Dr. Elizabeth Homan from Massachusetts General Hospital.

Initially, Dr. Homan dismissed his voicemail messages, as he sounded intoxicated. Eventually, the man’s wife reached out, explaining the situation, which prompted a collaboration with Dr. Bernd Schnabl, an expert on autobrewer syndrome. Together, they planned a fecal transplant for him.

Prior to the procedure, Homan, Schnabl, and their team conducted a comprehensive study on the causes of autobrewer syndrome. They analyzed stool samples from 22 patients with the condition and 21 healthy relatives, looking for variations in gut bacteria. “Our lab had a distinct smell,” Schnabl recollects.

The research revealed that fecal samples from patients produced significant alcohol when cultured, likely due to high levels of specific intestinal bacteria such as Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae, which ferment sugars to create alcohol. Previous cases had primarily linked the syndrome to excessive yeast growth.

To treat the Massachusetts man, Homan administered oral capsules derived from a healthy male donor’s fecal matter, known for having an optimal gut microbiome. “This donor has been carefully selected and is a personal trainer who prioritizes fitness,” she explains. When the capsules were analyzed, researchers noted exceptional gut microbiota within them.

Gradually, the man’s autobrewer syndrome resolved as the harmful alcohol-producing bacteria in his gut were replaced with healthier strains from the donor. “One of the highlights of this case was meeting his daughter, a medical school graduate, who expressed gratitude for bringing her ‘old dad back,'” Homan shared.

Schnabl mentions that most individuals likely produce minimal alcohol in their intestines due to the presence of Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae. However, significantly elevated levels lead to inebriating alcohol production, often triggered by long-term antibiotic use that disrupts the microbiome, which was the case for this patient.

Currently, Homan and Schnabl are conducting a large-scale trial to assess the effectiveness of oral fecal transplants for other patients with autobrewer syndrome.

Topics:

  • Gut Health /
  • Intestinal Microbiota

Source: www.newscientist.com

Alcohol Consumption Among Women is Increasing: Ongoing Health Implications

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The dangers that alcohol presents to women’s health have escalated in the last two decades, as more women are drinking more frequently and in larger amounts.

Alcohol-related deaths among women have more than doubled from 1999 to 2020, and deaths due to alcohol-related hepatitis, which causes severe liver inflammation, have almost tripled among women during the same timeframe.

Recent research published this Wednesday in the medical journals Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology has also shown a rise in the risk of alcohol-related liver disease in women, encompassing various types of liver damage that stem from excessive alcohol consumption. Severe damage, known as cirrhosis, can progress to early-stage inflammation, ultimately leading to liver failure.

Women are more susceptible to alcohol-related liver disease than men due to several factors. One reason is that they typically have lower body weight and a higher body fat percentage, leading to elevated alcohol concentrations in the blood that the liver must process. Additionally, women naturally possess fewer enzymes called alcohol dehydrogenases, which assist in metabolizing alcohol, resulting in higher blood alcohol levels.

These biological differences, combined with a significant spike in alcohol use and conditions like bulimia, put women at a heightened risk for alcohol-related health issues.

“Historically, there have been differences in the prevalence rates of alcohol consumption between men and women. Essentially, that gap has now narrowed, with the male-to-female drinking ratio nearing one-to-one,” stated Shelley McKee, director of the Yale Score Program on Gender Differences in Alcohol Use Disorders.

McKee noted that shifting lifestyles have led to increased alcohol consumption among women. Today’s young adults drink less than previous generations, yet more women are enrolling in college than men. This trend is typically linked to an uptick in alcohol consumption, she explained.

“Combine that with the fact that women are postponing childbirth and marriage, which allows them more freedom to continue drinking during college,” McKee added.

Catherine Keys, an epidemiology professor at the Postal Public Health School at Columbia University, observed that high alcohol consumption among women is most prevalent in middle-aged individuals. While some researchers attribute this trend to workplace stress and drinking culture, Keys emphasized that many women drink more simply for enjoyment. She pointed out that wine and spirits are often marketed to women as luxury items or relaxation aids.

Experts express that raising awareness of the health risks associated with alcohol consumption can encourage women to cut back.

“We’re excited to help you get started,” remarked Jessica Mellinger, a senior staff doctor at Henry Ford Health, Michigan’s health system. The more individuals consume, the greater their likelihood of developing alcohol-related liver disease at every stage, she added.

A study released this Wednesday revealed that heavy drinkers now exhibit more than double the rates of alcohol-related liver disease compared to 20 years ago. Researchers suspect this may be due to individuals at risk for liver disease—including women, those with obesity, and people with diabetes—drinking more than they did decades prior.

“Modern American drinkers are not the same as they were 20 years ago,” stated Dr. Brian Lee, lead author and liver specialist at Keck Medicine at the University of Southern California.

Using data from a national government-led survey, researchers analyzed drinking behaviors and liver health in the U.S., classifying heavy drinkers as men consuming at least 30 grams of alcohol daily and women consuming at least 20 grams.

Among heavy drinkers, the incidence of severe liver damage has more than doubled in 22 years, rising from nearly 2% between 1999-2004 to over 4% from 2013-2020.

The presence of metabolic syndrome—characterized by symptoms such as obesity and hypertension that elevate the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and stroke—among heavy drinkers has also increased from 26% to almost 38%. Both obesity and type 2 diabetes can lead to fat accumulation in the liver, heightening the risk of liver disease.

“It could be a perfect storm situation. We are seeing increased alcohol consumption alongside changes in the prevalence of these [health] conditions,” Keys remarked.

Lee emphasized the importance of individuals being honest with their healthcare providers about their alcohol intake so that doctors can determine the need for liver disease screenings.

“The risk of liver disease might be greater than you think,” he cautioned. “The reality is that liver disease often presents no symptoms, even in cases of cirrhosis, which is a terminal condition. I often say it’s both a blessing and a curse.”

Keys noted that women, in particular, often delay seeking medical help for heavy drinking due to societal stigma.

“It’s becoming a hidden trend where women postpone seeking help for serious alcohol-related conditions,” she stated.

Source: www.nbcnews.com

Strong evidence of Ozempic and Wegoby reducing alcohol consumption

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People report lower alcohol cravings when using semaglutide

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According to the first randomized clinical trials of drugs for this purpose, semaglutide appears to help people who are truly obsessed with alcohol reduce their intake.

Semaglutide, sold under brand names including Wegovy and Ozempic, uses the work by mimicking the intestinal hormone called glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), so the technical term is GLP-1 receptor It's an agonist. This drug was first used to treat type 2 diabetes, but to reduce appetite, Wegovy is also approved for weight loss 8 countries. Semaglutide also offers tips to help with an extraordinary number of medical conditions.

Regarding alcohol use, there was a 2024 survey that 84,000 people injected Ozempic or Wegovy because of a lower risk of alcoholism. The results were promising and showed correlation rather than causality.

But now, Christian Hendershot The University of Southern California and his colleagues completed the first randomized clinical trial of the effects of semaglutide on alcohol use disorders.

Their trial involved 48 US people diagnosed with the condition, of which 34 were women and 14 were male. Half received a weekly low-dose injection of semaglutide for 9 weeks, and the rest received a placebo injection.

Semaglutide patients no longer consumed drinks per drinking session, reducing their weekly alcohol cravings compared to placebo drinks.

“There was no evidence of any significant adverse effects or safety concerns for drugs in this population. Overall, we found that it reduces the amount of alcohol people consume across several different drinking outcomes,” Hender said. Shot says.

“The results are promising.” Long Xu at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Ohio. “Despite the small sample size, this randomized clinical trial highlights the therapeutic potential of semaglutide in the treatment of alcohol use disorders.”

ziyad al-aly At Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, the study added ” yet another evidence of GLP-1RAS . [GLP-1 receptor agonists] It could help with addiction disorders.”

He needs greater research to answer questions about whether people will increase their drinking, especially when they leave semaglutide, particularly what the long-term impact is, and whether people will increase their drinking. He says. Bone and muscle mass.

The study should be treated as a promising first evidence, says Hendershot, but more research is needed. People should not start taking semaglutide due to alcohol problems, he says.

“This is the first study like this and people are excited about it, but we have approved effective drugs for alcohol use disorders, so more research has been conducted. Until now, people are encouraged to pursue and approve the existing medicines there right now,” says Hendershot.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Wasps have a unique ability to store alcohol that surpasses any other animal on the planet.

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Oriental hornet (Vespa orientalis) may drink you under the table

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One species of wasp, which often eats alcohol-containing foods, can retain alcohol at levels that other known animals cannot tolerate without causing side effects.

‘This is crazy,’ says study author Sofia Bucebuti at Ben-Gurion University in the Negev, Israel.

Oriental wasp diet (vespa orientalis) consists of ripe fruit containing nectar and grapes. This fruit contains sugar, which is converted to ethanol through natural fermentation over time.

While ethanol is highly nutritious for animals, it is also highly intoxicating. Even animals that routinely eat fermented fruit, such as fruit flies and shrews, cannot have more than 4% ethanol in their diet, Bucebuti and his colleagues say.

But when Bucebuti’s team fed the hornets nothing for a week other than various sugar solutions containing varying amounts of ethanol from 1 to 80 percent, the hornets seemed unaffected. Neither their behavior nor their lifespans changed. What makes this particularly surprising is that a solution containing 80% ethanol contains four times the alcohol content of what occurs in nature.

“We initially experimented with only 20%. [ethanol] And we are already surprised,” say study authors Elan Levin At Tel Aviv University, Israel. The 80% ethanol figure is “even more incredible.”

Analysis of the genomes of several wasp species suggests that the insects have two to four copies of the gene that produces NADP+, which helps break down alcohol. Researchers think this may help explain why the oriental hornet, and perhaps other wasp species, can process such large amounts of alcohol.

These findings “remind us that we’re not the only ones who like alcohol.” james fry at the University of Rochester in New York. However, because data from other animal studies are difficult to compare, researchers are not convinced that wasps are the only organisms that can process such large amounts of alcohol.

Wasps’ love of alcohol may give them a competitive advantage when it comes to eating nutritious, highly fermented foods, researchers say. Irene Stefanini At the University of Turin, Italy. She believes that the wasp’s resistance is probably related to the mutualistic relationship between the animal and fermenting brewer’s yeast. budding yeastWhich her study They have been shown to live in the intestines of wasps, survive, and even mate. Perhaps the wasp helps the yeast move from fruit to fruit, and the yeast helps the wasp find energy-rich food.

topic:

  • insect/
  • drugs and alcohol

Source: www.newscientist.com

The common misconception that moderate alcohol consumption is beneficial for your health

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Drinking alcohol is bad for you, but it is often a social activity.

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Rigorous research suggests that drinking even small amounts of alcohol can shorten your lifespan, and that only people with serious health problems would benefit from moderate drinking. That's the conclusion of a review of 107 studies that looked at how drinking alcohol at specific ages affects the risk of dying from all causes.

“People need to be skeptical of the claims that the industry has been peddling for years.” Tim Stockwell “They clearly have a strong interest in promoting their products as not cancer-causing but as life-prolonging,” said researchers from the University of Victoria in Canada.

Stockwell says people should be told that while the risks of moderate drinking are small, it's not beneficial. “It may not be as dangerous as a lot of other things, but it's important that consumers are aware,” he says. “I also think it's important that manufacturers inform consumers of the risks through warning labels.”

The best way to assess the effects of alcohol would be to randomly select people who drink and who don&#39t drink as children, and then monitor their health and drinking for the rest of their lives. Because such studies are not possible, researchers instead have to ask people about their drinking habits and follow them over a much shorter period of time.

By the 2000s, a number of studies of this kind had been done, suggesting that the relationship between alcohol consumption and risk of death at a given age follows a J-shaped curve: drinking a little alcohol slightly reduces your risk of dying from any cause compared with a non-drinker, but as you drink more alcohol, your risk increases sharply.

Stockwell says he was convinced the science was well-established at the time, but he and other researchers have since Such studies have serious flaws.

The main problem is that they often don&#39t compare people who have never drunk alcohol to people who have. Many studies instead compare people who no longer drink to people who still drink. People who stop drinking, especially later in life, often have health problems, so moderate drinkers seem healthy in comparison, Stockwell says.

Although some studies claim to compare current drinkers with “never drinkers,” the definition of the latter group often actually includes occasional drinkers, Stockwell says. For example, one study defined people who had up to 11 drinks a year as lifetime abstainers.

“In our opinion, the majority of research has not addressed this potential source of bias,” Stockwell says, “To be clear, people have tried to address this, but we don&#39t think they&#39ve done so adequately.”

In fact, his team found that of 107 studies they reviewed, only six adequately addressed these sources of bias, and none of those six found any risk reduction with moderate drinking.

” [high-quality] “The research suggests a linear relationship,” Stockwell says, “the more you drink, the higher your risk of heart disease. Our study looks at total mortality, and it&#39s clear that heart disease is the main issue.”

The review says that it is very clear that lower quality studies are more likely to suggest a beneficial effect. Duane Mellor At the British Dietetic Association.

But he points out that this doesn&#39t take into account the social aspects of moderate drinking. “While it&#39s healthier to socialize without drinking alcohol, the benefits of spending time with other people are likely to outweigh the risks of consuming one or two units of alcohol,” he says. “Perhaps the challenge is to limit alcohol intake in this way.”

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Source: www.newscientist.com

The Impact of Alcohol on Biological Age: A Closer Look

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It is widely known that excessive alcohol consumption is detrimental to health, a fact that has been established by scientific research over many years.

Despite this, there is still much to learn about the effects of alcohol on the body and whether consuming small amounts of certain types of alcohol may have potential benefits.

New research is shedding light on how alcohol impacts the body and accelerates the aging process, particularly at a cellular level that determines biological age.

Unlike chronological age, which simply counts the number of years someone has lived, biological age assesses cellular function and disease risk. Two key indicators of biological age, telomere length, and epigenetic age, provide evidence of the harmful effects of alcohol consumption on the body.

Drinking alcohol increases the risk of DNA damage

Telomeres are essential components of our genetic structure, protecting chromosomes from damage during cell replication. Over time, telomeres naturally shorten as cells divide. Shortened telomeres are associated with age-related diseases such as Alzheimer’s, cancer, and heart disease.

Research conducted by Anya Topiwala and her team at Oxford University in 2022 found that excessive alcohol consumption leads to a reduction in telomere length, accelerating the biological aging process.

Observational studies have shown that consuming 29 or more units of alcohol per week can result in a 1-2 year change in telomere length compared to drinking less than six units per week. Individuals with alcohol use disorders were found to have even shorter telomeres.

The exact mechanism by which alcohol shortens telomeres is not fully understood, but it is believed to be related to oxidative stress caused by alcohol consumption.

Certain types of alcohol are bad for you

Epigenetic age, which assesses DNA methylation linked to aging using multiple biomarkers, indicates the impact of lifestyle choices on biological age. Studies have shown that cumulative alcohol exposure increases biological age, with liquor drinkers being at a higher risk of premature aging compared to beer or wine drinkers.

Further research is being conducted to better understand the connection between alcohol consumption and biological aging, as the specific reasons behind these effects are not fully clear.

Can biological age be reversed?

While biological aging is theoretically reversible, the practical methods to achieve this reversal are not yet established. Scientists believe that by addressing environmental factors and lifestyle choices that impact DNA function, it may be possible to slow down the aging process.

Quitting or reducing alcohol consumption has been shown to slow down biological aging. Both studies emphasize that moderate drinking does not have any protective effects and that increased alcohol consumption accelerates the aging process.

About our experts

Anya Topiwala: A psychiatrist at Oxford University, Topiwala’s research focuses on the impact of alcohol consumption on brain health using large datasets and advanced imaging techniques.

Hou Li-Fan: A Professor of Preventive Medicine at Northwestern University, Dr. Hou’s research integrates epidemiological methods with molecular technologies to identify molecular markers and understand their role in disease prevention.

Source: www.sciencefocus.com

The Influence of Chemistry on the Flavor of Alcohol

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Animals have been consuming alcohol for millions of years, and primates and humans have been digesting it for about 7 to 21 million years. Throughout human history, alcohol consumption and production has been a part of many different cultures. Experts on human societies, including anthropologists and indigenous peoples, have long known about the origins of rice wine (Miju) and beer (Lao Lee) has been part of ancient Chinese culture for 7,000 to 13,000 years. Similarly, people in the Andes region of South America have been brewing beer made from corn. Chicha It spans approximately 5,000 years.

Even though ancient methods of making alcohol have spread all over the world, people all brew drinks that contain the same amount of alcohol, a standard known as the “alcohol content.” Alcohol degree or ABV. Beverages can be brewed at a range of ABVs, but beer is preferred to be brewed at around 4% alcohol by volume, wine at 11%-16%, and stronger spirits at around 43%, 52%, 68%, and 75% alcohol by volume. However, scientists are yet to figure out the reason behind these universal ranges of ABV.

A team of Chinese researchers studied why people choose different alcohol strengths by looking at how water and ethanol molecules interact at different alcohol strengths. Alcoholic drinks contain a variety of molecules that add flavor, color and aroma, but the main molecules are water and ethanol. ethanolThese molecules are made of atoms such as hydrogen and oxygen. The atoms of the molecules are held together by electric forces, like two magnets, but the atoms between the two molecules also attract each other. Water and ethanol molecules are attracted to each other through their hydrogen and oxygen atoms. This process is called Hydrogen Bonding.

The team demonstrated how hydrogen bonds can hold water and ethanol in different orientations and Interaction AngleThey are devices that determine the structure of molecules, Hydrogen Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectrometer or H NMR. H NMR The machine can detect hydrogen atoms and determine what they are bonded to and what angle they form.

The research team created mixtures of water and ethanol ranging from 0% to 100% alcohol content and used H NMR to detect the change in the interaction angle between the two molecules. They found that as the alcohol content increased, the interaction angle decreased. It dropped from a 90° angle at 1% alcohol content to a 10° angle at 99% alcohol content. They noticed that this change was not smooth, but that the interaction angle decreased in stages. For example, the interaction angle was about 70° between 11% and 13% alcohol content, but suddenly dropped to 60° when the alcohol content reached 14% alcohol content. The research team noticed that these abrupt changes occurred across the preferred alcohol content ranges of alcoholic beverages around the world, as shown above.

The most common type of hydrogen bond that occurs between a hydrogen atom and an oxygen atom is Hydroxyl. Using 1 H NMR, the team found that these hydroxyl interactions produced a uniform 3D water molecular network at an interaction angle of 90°, forming tetrahedral structures. However, the hydroxyl interactions between ethanol molecules were nearly linear, and at an interaction angle of 0°, long chains were formed. As the alcohol content of the beverage increased, the tetrahedral structures and the long chain molecules competed with each other.

The team found that as the alcohol content increased, the number of hydroxyl interactions decreased stepwise, as did the interaction angle. The team concluded that alcoholic drinks with different alcohol content formed distinct mixtures of chain and tetrahedral interactions. Increasing the amount of ethanol molecules increased the number of chain interactions as the molecules found new preferred orientations.

Finally, the researchers investigated whether the amount of these chain and tetrahedral interactions altered the flavor when an alcoholic beverage was cooled or heated. When an 11% ABV beverage was cooled to 42°F (5°C), more hydroxyl interactions occurred. This cooling increased the number of chain interactions between water and ethanol molecules.

Next, the researchers hired professional and amateur beer tasters to test the flavor of cold and hot alcoholic beverages with 11% alcohol content. The tasters found that chilling low and high alcohol content beers produced even greater differences in the flavor of the alcohol, due to an increased number of chain reactions within these beverages.

On the other hand, when the researchers warmed the beverages to 104°F (40°C), the number of hydroxyl interactions remained consistently between 38% and 52% ABV. Professional and amateur beer tasters tasted the warmed alcoholic beverages at 38% and 52% ABV and could not detect any difference. The team concluded that warming these beverages resulted in similar amounts of chain interactions, so flavor was unaffected by the change in ABV. This difference in taste could explain why people prefer to drink warm sake and other alcoholic beverages at 38% ABV.

The team concluded that throughout human history, brewers and drinkers have relied on their tongues to find the right alcohol content and temperature needed to create beverages that involve water-ethanol polymer chain interactions. By learning the importance of hydrogen bonds and molecular interactions, the team hopes that future brewers and scientists will experiment with different ways to control these molecular interactions to create even more sophisticated and interesting flavors.


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Source: sciworthy.com

Comet “Alcohol” May Cause Unprecedented Meteor Shower Tonight

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There is a small chance that Earth could come into contact with a stream of debris from Comet 46P/Wiltanen between December 10th and 12th, coinciding with the beginning of the Geminid meteor shower peak.

This means that we might see a brand new meteor shower in 2023. According to Dr. Darren Baskill, an astrophysicist at the University of Sussex, a new study suggests that Earth could pass through the dust trail left by the comet in 1974 on December 12, 2023.

Mysterious highly active alcohol comet

Comet 46P/Wiltanen is a short-period “Jupiter system” comet that takes only 5.4 years to orbit the Sun. This family of comets is named after Jupiter because its orbit is primarily determined by the gas giant’s gravitational influence. The comet’s small size combined with its activity makes it a “hyperactive” comet, emitting more light than expected. Observations suggest that 40% of the nuclear surface is active, and it has released an unusually large amount of alcohol as well.

The comet was initially the target of the ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft, but the mission was delayed, and a new target was set: 67P/Churimov-Gerasimenko. The next closest approach of Comet Wirtanen is in May 2024.

A new meteor shower from Comet Wirtanen?

In 1974 and 1980, Comet 46P/Wiltanen released a meteor stream that has never before intersected Earth’s orbit. Recent encounters were also observed in 2007 and 2018. Modeling predicts another meteor shower encounter in December when Earth will pass through a denser part of the meteor stream. However, it is important to note that no meteor showers have been confirmed so far.

How to identify simultaneous meteor showers

To distinguish these potential “new” meteor showers from the Geminid meteor shower, the observed meteor radiance and velocity can help. The radiant point of this new shower is near a faint constellation in the southern sky, and the meteors are much slower than the Geminid meteors.

Dr. Baskill shares some tips on how to differentiate the Geminid meteor shower from these potential “new” meteor showers. He explains that the Geminid meteor originates from the asteroid 3200 Phaethon and has larger dust particles.

The reliable Geminid meteor shower can help.

Dr. Baskill believes that the Geminid meteor shower is not likely to be overshadowed by this potential new meteor shower, as the number of meteors it will produce is highly uncertain. However, the Geminids will likely be the most abundant meteor shower this year.

Why now?

Dr. Baskill speculates that it is difficult to predict certain meteor showers due to factors such as the comet’s orbit changing over time and solar winds moving the dust streams.

About our expert Dr. Darren Baskill

Darren Baskill is an outreach officer and lecturer in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Sussex. He previously lectured at the Royal Observatory Greenwich and was the organizer of the annual Astronomical Photographer of the Year competition.

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Source: www.sciencefocus.com