From the brewing master himself, Jim Koch. Knowing nothing of bio-chemistry this sounds pretty cool/legit. Any chemist people on here agree/disagree? Sounds like a good strategy for the next craft beer festival I attend.
http://www.esquire.com/blogs/food-for-men/how-not-to-get-drunk?click=feed
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Cheaper to just drink plenty of water between other beverages and take two aspirin before you go to bed.
At my graduation party I did almost the same thing. I was drinking beer and eating hot dog buns. Worked wonders but I still threw up.
i don't know that i'll ever try it but it is def an interesting idea
Maybe I'm a little slow. I probably am. I'm not sure exactly how this is supposed to work. Are you supposed to guestimate how many beers you're going to drink, then eat a teaspoon of yeast before heading out? Or are you supposed to have a teaspoon between beers? If the latter is the case, that could prove a little difficult and embarrassing while at bars, parties, tailgates, etc. Having said all that, 99% of the time when I'm drinking, it's to get drunk. Don't want to mitigate or slow that process! Intriguing idea though.
Resident biochemist here :) In principle, this could work, but you have to be really careful. The ADH will indeed break down the ethanol, and the more ADH you have (from yeast or from your own liver), the more efficiently that will happen. There is a potential problem, though. The immediate product of ADH is acetaldehyde, which is VERY toxic. Accumulation of acetaldehyde is why you have hangovers; it's not the alcohol itself. Buildup of acetaldehyde is also caused by a genetic mutation in many Asian people who have very efficient ADH enzymes, leading to "Asian glow."
The upshot here is you'd better have something to help you break down the acetaldehyde. Normally your aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) enzymes take care of this, oxidizing acetaldehyde to acetic acid, which is then incorporated into acetyl-CoA, a normal component of cellular metabolism. ALDH can only work so hard, and if it gets overwhelmed (Le Chatlier's Principle from general chemistry!) you can do serious cellular damage if acetaldehyde accumulates (at minimum, one hell of a hangover that you NEVER saw coming). Increased intake of Vitamin C alongside your yeast consumption would probably help.
This is all just thinking out loud, but if you imbalance your metabolism in a way that seems favorable, there could be unintended consequences. Be careful.
Mmm ethanol metabolism. Onto FAs and the TCA!
Your point is a good one but there's more that may be specific to the chemical path the yeast uses.
ADH requires a hydride co-factor in order to function and it's a very high cost co-factor, it would need a really large or recurring supply, which is how it's used during fermentation but even then it wouldn't break down all that much alcohol. This co-factor just isn't present in enough quantity to actually occur.
As well, if adding yeast to beer reduced the alcohol level, then why does adding yeast to the precursor to beer add alcohol then the yeast doesn't also then consume the alcohol in order to sustain itself?
I would also be concerned with stomach acid denaturing the protein of the enzyme before it had the chance to do much work besides, the yeast wouldn't stay in the stomach that long, it would move into the colon pretty quickly and therefore wouldn't be in the stomach long enough to perform as much of a alcohol breakdown tool.
Man, I love a good science discussion. Your points are very good. A few thoughts to follow up on mine:
1. I am very skeptical of this idea, in general. What I posted above was basically "assuming this works, here are some caveats..." The first assumption is a doozy.
2. NADH would indeed become limiting at some point. The exact redox balance between NADH and NAD+ in the human body is also a function of an individual's redox balance and nutrition status. Consider that someone who is out eating or drinking a lot will be consuming a lot of glucose and starches, which enter the TCA cycle, converting available NAD+ to NADH. So it is possible to continue to fuel the available reductant supply. Add to that the fact that brewer's yeast has two types of ADH that maintain its own balance of EtOH and acetaldehyde, and you've got yourself a very complex metabolic system!
3. Stomach pH is a big issue, so too. I think yeast ADH is most active at neutral or slightly alkaline pH, but it will do some work before croaking. It all depends on how well the yeast can buffer their intracellular pH.
I was hoping to see a good discussion like this. It seems like a very interesting concept but wondered about possible side effects. I can think of few things worse than not getting drunk and still having a hangover.
Yeast ADH optimum range is something I've never really thought about. I know that during the initial parts of the fermentation cycle the metabolic pathway is one that uses oxygen and absorbs your minerals, which are alkaline so, I think you may be correct. The pH of a beer will drop an entire point of pH due to the amount of absorbed minerals into the yeast.
The stomach would not be a oxygenated environment, which is required for the chemical pathways in which the minerals are absorbed so, at the least, the yeast would be incredibly over stressed.
Assuming Koch is using yogurt with active cultures, essentially he's getting a bunch of active cultures with ADH, ADLH, and NAD+ and NADH to break down alcohol along with the yeast. In fact, that's what yogurt active cultures do; turn sugar into alcohol and then acid. Yeast mostly turns sugar into alcohol, but I think the yogurt is probably the secret trick. And adding yeast just increases the cultures that could break down the alcohol.
Seems legit. If active cultures (yeast and bacteria) survive the pH of 2 (which they do, or else you would have no cultures in your gut), then they should be able to break down the alcohol in the stomach and intestines.
Brewery's yeast won't break down alcohol. I suspect it may just be there for vitamins to help prevent hangover or to feed the yogurt cultures.
The yeast would not work fast enough in either case, it just would not get going before the present alcohol would be absorbed into the digestion. It would be turning available simple sugars into more alcohol in any case.
This is why I love brettanomyces and lactobacillus. Sour beer is absolutely delicious.
But Brett actually takes longer to ferment with a decent flavor and if either of these ever get out into your brewery, you can't eliminate it and do not allow either of these to ever come into contact with your equipment you use for your "regular" fermentations. It's a financial disaster waiting to happen.
Wait... drink beer to NOT get drunk?
stimulants?
i kid, stay in school kids
No, you'd just be a wide awake drunk.
Stimulants don't prevent getting or being drunk.
Not get drunk!? Now where's the fun in that!?
