kerkko.fi

This sounds too good to be true: a natural substance that keeps you sober no matter how much you drink, neutralises hangovers, and breaks the cycle of alcohol addiction. Extracts of a Chinese variety of the oriental raisin tree (Hovenia dulcis) have been used for 500 years to treat hangovers in China. Now dihydromyricetin (DHM), a component of the extract, has proved its worth as an intoxication blocker in a series of experiments on rats. It works by preventing alcohol from having its usual intoxicating effects on the brain.

"DHM will reduce the degree of drunkenness for the amount of alcohol drunk and will definitely reduce the hangover symptoms," says pharmacologist Jing Liang of the University of California, Los Angeles, who led the research team. "In time, it will reduce their desire for alcohol." Liang first tested whether DHM blocks the clumsiness and loss of coordination caused by drinking too much. To do this, she measured how long it took for treated rats to right themselves after being laid on their backs in a V-shaped cradle.

After she injected rats' abdomens with a dose of alcohol equal to 15 to 20 beers in 2 hours for a human, they took about 70 minutes, on average, to right themselves. However, when an injection of the same amount of booze included a milligram of DHM per kilogram of rat body weight, the animals recovered their composure within just 5 minutes. Rats given heavy doses of alcohol cowered away in corners, whereas those given the extract with their alcohol behaved normally and were as inquisitive as rats given no alcohol at all.

People find alcohol sweeter in noisy environments, which might drown out our ability to judge how much we are drinking. Research conducted by Dr Lorenzo Stafford, a psychologist from the University of Portsmouth, was the first experimental study to find out how music can alter the taste of alcohol. The research built on earlier research which found that people drank more alcohol and faster if loud music was playing.

In Dr Stafford’s study, participants had to rate a selection of drinks varying in alcohol content on the basis of alcohol strength, sweetness, and bitterness. They were given one of four different levels of distraction, from no distraction to loud club-type music playing at the same time as reading a news report. The study found that drinks were rated significantly sweeter overall when participants were listening to music alone.

In high doses, alcohol impairs our reaction times, muscle control, co-ordination, short-term memory, perceptual field, cognitive abilities, and ability to speak clearly. But it does not cause us selectively to break specific social rules. The effects of alcohol on behaviour are determined by cultural rules and norms.

Read the rest of this post »

The premature deaths of smokers has economic benefits, according to a controversial report commissioned by the leading US cigarette manufacturer, Philip Morris.

The report found that the Czech Republic saved about USD 147 million in 1997 through the deaths of smokers who would not live to use healthcare or housing for the elderly.

Compiled as a cost-benefit analysis to the Czech government, the study weighted the savings against the income tax lost and cost of caring for smokers before they died.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1442555.stm

It seems like everyone wants to be happier. But even happiness can have a dark side, according to the authors of a new review article published in Perspectives on Psychological Science. They say that happiness should not be thought of as a universally good thing, and outline four ways in which this is the case. Indeed, not all types and degrees of happiness are equally good, and even pursuing happiness can make people feel worse.

Honey is a miracle food; it never goes bad. It was reported that archaeologists found 2,000 year old jars of honey in Egyptian tombs and they still tasted delicious. Many people find it rather surprising that bacteria cannot grow in honey because all things being equal, bacteria loves sugar.

The unique chemical composition of low water content and relatively high acidic level in honey creates a low pH (3.2-4.5) environment that makes it very unfavourable for bacteria or other micro-organism to grow. Thus, "Best Before Dates" on honey buckets do not seem to be very important.

(download)

Click here to download:

365-days-of-exercise.flv (2.51 MB)

John Stone takes an image of himself everyday to show the progress of his workouts in weight loss and muscle gain. We still have hope, guys!

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/video/365-days-of-exercise

Alcohol causes nearly 4% of deaths worldwide, more than AIDS, tuberculosis, or violence, the World Health Organization warned. Rising incomes have triggered more drinking in heavily populated countries in Africa and Asia, including India and South Africa, and binge drinking is a problem in many developed countries, the United Nations agency said. Yet alcohol control policies are weak and remain a low priority for most governments despite drinking's heavy toll on society from road accidents, violence, disease, child neglect, and job absenteeism, it said. Approximately 2.5 million people die each year from alcohol related causes, the WHO said in its "Global Status Report on Alcohol and Health."

If you really want help overcoming a hangover, drink a cup of coffee with an aspirin. Scientists have found the caffeine in coffee and the anti-inflammatory ingredients of aspirin and other painkillers reacted against the chemical compounds of ethanol, or pure alcohol. Ethanol brings on headaches thanks to a chemical acetate it can produce.

Smoking could “virtually disappear” in Britain within half a century, according to research by Citigroup. The broker has considered what a decline in smoking means for the tobacco industry. The habit has been on the wane since the 1960s, when just over half of adults in Britain smoked. That figure had dropped to a fifth by 2008.

"The percentage of smokers is declining across the developed world, and the declines are more or less in a straight line in most markets," said the analysts. “If these trends continue, then by 2050, many important tobacco markets will have gone to zero smoking.” But Citigroup stressed that these were “extremely long-term” trends.