If there’s one thing that we Americans love, it’s alcohol. Celebrations of all kinds seem to require it, and we consume so much booze every year that it’s honestly difficult to fathom. Perhaps the most considerable downside to alcohol consumption, however, is the dreaded hangover that has negatively effected every alcohol drinker at one point or another.

But now there is a form of alcohol on the horizon that is said to eliminate that risk — but there is a risk to the potential reward.

Katie Forster of The Independent has reported that “The new drink, known as ‘alcosynth’, is designed to mimic the positive effects of alcohol but doesn’t cause a dry mouth, nausea and a throbbing head, according to its creator Professor David Nutt.”

If Nutt’s sales pitch is correct, and alcosynth actually doesn’t cause the negative side effects that are generally associated with traditional alcohol, then the new invention could very well change the entire game.

Even though Americans notoriously don’t seem to care about their health, there’s something about “synthetic” alcohol that is especially worrisome. When you mix anything with alcohol, you run the risk of having all sorts of health issues. Who knows what the side effects of alcosynth may be? They could be even more devastating than that of traditional alcohol.

It also begs the question of how the alcohol industry will react. We’ve seen how Big Pharma handles competitors like marijuana — by going out of their way to get it banned — so could we see Big Alcohol take a similar stance against alcosynth? If they see a legitimate threat it, it’s probably extremely likely. After all, the worst thing you can do to a businessman is threaten their profits.

Only time will tell if alcosynth is a legitimate alternative to traditional alcohol or merely a passing (and potentially dangerous) fad. We are living in very interesting times when it comes to those alternatives, though. While many claim to have all the answers to every problem Americans have ever had, they often seem to come with a boatload of side effects that make them even worse than the product they’re aiming to improve.

Be safe out there, folks. In the grand scheme of life, an inconvenient hangover could be the least of your problems. When you go experimenting with unproven, “synthetic” materials, there’s very little preventing your future from being destroyed in more ways than one.

Sticking to the natural solution is almost always the preferable route to take…

Sources:

Independent.co.uk

CNN.com