Salud!

[Eli]

Esto lo saque de New Scientist, aunque talvez nunca se haga realidad no seria fantastico si lo hicieran de verdad? ya que no voy a traducir todo el articulo, basicamente dice que practicamente pueden hacer un trago que tenga todas las buenas caracteristicas del licor sin ninguna de las malas condiciones associadas con el licor verdadero.

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All the pleasures of alcohol, with no downsides

* 11 April 2006
* Exclusive from New Scientist Print Edition
* Graham Lawton

CASUAL drinkers are unlikely to have raised their glass to the news last month that most people who suffer severe alcohol-induced liver disease are social drinkers not alcoholics. Nor to the finding that moderate drinking might not, after all, help prevent heart disease.

There may, however, just be a solution to our drinking woes - one that will allow us to go to a bar and drink as much as we want; get merry, not legless; wake without a hangover; and never have to worry that one of our favourite pastimes may be killing us. It's a cocktail of drugs that mimics the pleasurable effects of alcohol without the downsides. The idea is only on the drawing board, but there is no scientific reason why it could not be made right now, says psychopharmacologist David Nutt of the University of Bristol in the UK.

Alcohol exerts its effects on the brain mainly by latching onto signalling molecules called GABA-A receptors. There are dozens of subtypes of these, some of which are associated with specific effects of alcohol. Memory loss, for example, seems to occur because alcohol binds to a subtype in the hippocampus called alpha-5. Nutt says it would be possible to design molecules that bind strongly to the good subtypes but more weakly to the bad ones.

In fact such "partial agonists" of GABA-A receptors already exist in the form of bretazenil and pagoclone, which were developed as anti-anxiety drugs but never commercialised. These molecules also have the advantage of being instantly reversible by the drug flumazenil, which is used as an antidote to overdoses of tranquillisers such as Valium. Alcohol also inhibits NMDA receptors, which are part of a general excitatory signalling circuit, so a second ingredient of the alcohol substitute would be an NMDA antagonist such as dizoclipine, originally developed as a drug for stroke.

The trick pharmacologists need to pull off is to make a mixture of molecules that deliver alcohol's pleasurable effects, notably relaxation and sociability, without the aggression, nausea, loss of coordination and amnesia that can cause drinkers and those around them so much grief. Long-term problems such as cirrhosis of the liver could also be eliminated, says Nutt, who publishes the idea next month in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, (vol 20, p 318).

There would be obstacles of course. The pharmaceutical industry may be unwilling to develop and test such a complex and expensive formulation, while there would be political and moral difficulties in creating a new lifestyle drug. And drinkers might need some persuading to give up fine wine or their favourite beer. Still, it's an idea worth toasting.

[Terechu]

Thanks, Eli, but that does sound complicated. We in Asturias need no drug cocktail out of a lab to enjoy the pleasures of being slightly tipsy without getting drunk, without putting a hole in our liver and without becoming aggressive.

Hard cider as is traditionally made and in Asturias, has an alcohol content of between 3% and 6%, and is poured out by one person, using one glass, which is passed to the "parisheners" one by one. Once everybody has drunk, the bottle is put down until the next "round".
This procedure checks the people's tendency to drink away uncontrolled. It also has the additional benefit to keep the alcohol level in blood low, but constant. The results are friendly uninhibited gatherings, with singing, arguing, teasing and joking, all the while feeling great satisfaction with life in general, and an endless love for all your friends in particular.
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Gracias, Eli, pero suena un poco complicado. Aquí en Asturias no necesitamos un cóctel de medicamentos de laboratorio para disfrutar del placer de sentirse un puntín "alegre" sin emborracharnos, sin agujerear el hígado y sin ponerse agresivos.

La sidra, tal como se hace tradicionalmente en Asturias, tiene un contenido alcohólico de entre un 3 y un 6%, la escancia una persona usando un único vaso, el cual pasa a los "parroquianos" de uno en uno. En cuanto hayan bebido todos, la botella se posa hasta la siguiente ronda.
Este procedimiento frena la tendencia a beber sin control. Tiene además la ventaja de mantener el nivel de alcohol en sangre bajo pero constante, y el resultado son reuniones amistosas y desinhibidas, donde se canta, se discute, se le toma el pelo a los demás y se cuentan chistes, mientras se siente una gran satisfacción con la vida en general y un gran amor por todos tus amigos en especial.

[Eli]

Huh that sounds like a good tradition, drink and be merry but no merrier than anybody else. I can imagine though that a bunch of the ol’ timers would bring along something to sip on their own... only the ‘good’ ones stick to the shot of cider... yeah kinda like when I was 13 went to the beach with a bunch of friends the girls are going to change into their bathing suits they make us promise we wont look... only later I found out I was the only one that didn’t look... Yeah I’m taking my own Pisco to that gathering...

[Xose]

This procedure checks the people's tendency to drink away uncontrolled.

I didn't get that memo when I lived in Uviéu.