Alcohol has been around for thousands of years. The discovery of the late Stone Age jugs of alcoholic beverages is a vivid proof that intentionally fermented beverages existed since at least 10,000 BC. It is interesting that human beings are still groping with how to control the effects of alcohol.
ETH, located in Zurich, Switzerland is one of the most prestigious research universities in the world. Over the years, they produced more than 30 Nobel laureates, most of which were in the Natural Sciences. It is interesting to note that one of the topics that was recently studied at ETH was how to control the adverse effects of alcohol consumption in human beings.
Alcohol enters the bloodstream directly from the stomach and the small intestine without the prior need to break down to smaller molecules. This affects how rapidly it gets absorbed in the body. The study at ETH was to provide a medium in the body prior to the consumption of alcohol that would intercept the alcohol and change its molecular structure in a way that it would not have the same effect as alcohol when absorbed by the blood stream.
Researchers were able to discover such a medium in the form of whey protein. Whey is obtained during the manufacturing of cheese. It is the liquid that separates after cheese is formed and consists of a large amount of protein. The whey is concentrated and used as a nutritional supplement.
Scientists at ETH discovered that when whey protein concentrate is cooked for several hours in the presence of minerals it forms a gel. When this whey gel is ingested prior to drinking alcohol, it caused the alcohol to be inactivated by converting it to vinegar.
I don’t know how cooking the whey and treating it with iron and gold causes it to gel. Nor do I understand why this gel has the property of changing the molecular structure of alcohol to acetic acid (vinegar). But the fact remains when this process was used with mice, the researchers were able to confirm these findings. We are told that in the next phase of this project they will conduct experiments with real people.
I feel compelled to mention another study that was recently conducted, this time at the University of Michigan. While it still involves alcohol consumption, it goes in a different direction. The study concludes that couples that drink together live longer and happier lives. This study was conducted over a period of 20 years using around 5,000 couples. The obvious question is in what way the gelled whey, containing the iron and the gold, will affect the happiness and longevity of a couple if they take their drinks after having eaten their gel?
Any thoughts?
Chaim Gur-Arieh
March 2025