Really interesting initiative to develop ethanol analogs. If successful, replacing ethanol with a less harmful substance could really have a big effect on global health. The CSO of the company (GABA Labs) is prof. David Nutt, a prominent figure in drug science.
I like that the regulatory pathway might be different from most recreational drugs, which would be very hard to get de-scheduled.
I’m pretty skeptical that GABAergic substances are really going to cut it, because I expect them to have pretty different effects to alcohol. We already have those (L-theanine , saffran, kava, kratom) and they aren’t used widely. But who knows, maybe that’s just because ethanol-containing drinks have received a lot of optimization in terms of taste, marketing, and production efficiency.
It also seems like finding a good compound by modifying ethanol would be hard, because it’s not a great lead compound in terms of toxicity (I expect).
Agreed. Alcohol is ubiquitous because it’s normalized, and its damaging health effects are glossed over for the same reason (as well as corporate profits).
GABA Labs is a good initiative, I think. I do know kava (a popular drink in parts of Polynesia) acts on GABA receptors and can have similar effects to alcohol in high doses, but I’m not sure what the long-term health effects of kava use are.
Hi, I agree ETOH is extremely harmful. However, there are existing medications which act on GABA, many of which are both highly addictive and therefore highly regulated themselves. Barbituates are a (now outdated) drug class which acts on GABA, others include benzodiazepines and more modern sleep drugs like Zolpidem. All have significant side effects.
This website strikes me as very selective in how scientific it is—for example, “At higher levels (blood ethanol >400mg%, as would occur after drinking a litre of vodka) then these two effects of ethanol – the increase in GABA inhibition and the blockade of glutamate excitation – can combine to produce a lethal level of sedation and respiratory depression. In terms of health impacts, alcohol (strictly speaking, ethanol) is in a class of its own, and very different from GABA.” ETOH is not that different from GABA, as you can also overdose and cause respiratory depression and death from GABA inhibition. I would like to see some more peer-reviewed studies around this new drink, and a comparison to placebo (if you’re giving people this drink and saying it will enhance “conviviality and relaxation” then it probably will).
As with pretty much anything health related, there’s no quick fix. Things which depress the CNS are addictive, and not that dissimilar from one another. I can see the marketing opportunity for this in the “health food” arena, which makes me more skeptical of this site. I imagine, if released, it may have a similar fate to cannabinoid molecules being included in all sorts of products—allowed because they are ineffective, or vapes—with a different risk profile to the original substance.
Really interesting initiative to develop ethanol analogs. If successful, replacing ethanol with a less harmful substance could really have a big effect on global health. The CSO of the company (GABA Labs) is prof. David Nutt, a prominent figure in drug science.
I like that the regulatory pathway might be different from most recreational drugs, which would be very hard to get de-scheduled.
I’m pretty skeptical that GABAergic substances are really going to cut it, because I expect them to have pretty different effects to alcohol. We already have those (L-theanine , saffran, kava, kratom) and they aren’t used widely. But who knows, maybe that’s just because ethanol-containing drinks have received a lot of optimization in terms of taste, marketing, and production efficiency.
It also seems like finding a good compound by modifying ethanol would be hard, because it’s not a great lead compound in terms of toxicity (I expect).
People massively underestimate the damage alcohol causes per use because of how normalised it is.
Agreed. Alcohol is ubiquitous because it’s normalized, and its damaging health effects are glossed over for the same reason (as well as corporate profits).
GABA Labs is a good initiative, I think. I do know kava (a popular drink in parts of Polynesia) acts on GABA receptors and can have similar effects to alcohol in high doses, but I’m not sure what the long-term health effects of kava use are.
Heavy use of kava is associated with liver damage, but it seems much less toxic than alcohol. (I use it in my insomnia stack)
Hi, I agree ETOH is extremely harmful. However, there are existing medications which act on GABA, many of which are both highly addictive and therefore highly regulated themselves. Barbituates are a (now outdated) drug class which acts on GABA, others include benzodiazepines and more modern sleep drugs like Zolpidem. All have significant side effects.
This website strikes me as very selective in how scientific it is—for example, “At higher levels (blood ethanol >400mg%, as would occur after drinking a litre of vodka) then these two effects of ethanol – the increase in GABA inhibition and the blockade of glutamate excitation – can combine to produce a lethal level of sedation and respiratory depression. In terms of health impacts, alcohol (strictly speaking, ethanol) is in a class of its own, and very different from GABA.” ETOH is not that different from GABA, as you can also overdose and cause respiratory depression and death from GABA inhibition. I would like to see some more peer-reviewed studies around this new drink, and a comparison to placebo (if you’re giving people this drink and saying it will enhance “conviviality and relaxation” then it probably will).
As with pretty much anything health related, there’s no quick fix. Things which depress the CNS are addictive, and not that dissimilar from one another. I can see the marketing opportunity for this in the “health food” arena, which makes me more skeptical of this site. I imagine, if released, it may have a similar fate to cannabinoid molecules being included in all sorts of products—allowed because they are ineffective, or vapes—with a different risk profile to the original substance.