CHICAGO (NewsNation) — GABA Labs is doing everything it can to transform social drinking for adults, developing functional ingredients as patentable alternatives to alcohol that allegedly mimics the desired effects of alcohol without leaving people with a hangover.
Based in the United Kingdom, GABA Labs has created products using a synthetic GABAergic ingredient to enhance social drinking and put human wellness at the forefront. Its leading product, “Alcarelle,” enhances conviviality and sociability when consumed while avoiding alcohol’s harmful effects.
While it has not yet been approved for use, GABA Labs has applied for registration for Alcarelle as a “novel food” in the U.K., E.U. and Canada. It has also applied for registration in the U.S., according to GABA Labs website.
Dr. Dave Montgomery joined “Morning in America” to break down the science behind the synthetic alcohol.
“Here’s the bottom line,” Montgomery said. “The positive effects of alcohol, when we drink, come from alcohol’s direct effect on a receptor called the GABA receptor in our brain that gives us that relaxed feeling kind of a bit of euphoria. The unwanted effects are attributed to a breakdown product of alcohol called Acetaldehyde — which gives you the hangover, the headache, nausea and things like that.”
What doctors and scientists are trying to do with these products is get all the upsides of alcohol by stimulating the GABA receptor while eliminating the unwanted side effects of the breakdown products, Montgomery continued.
“Time will tell, but it seems like something that a lot of people will be interested in,” Montgomery said.
But will this product be healthy for consumers?
Montgomery explained that while it seems to be working pretty well in test tubes and Petri dishes, the question is what is going to happen when it gets into the human physiology.
“We don’t really know yet,” he said. “While it may sort of decrease the hangover effect, there’s still something to say about over-consuming.”
Only time will tell, Montgomery said.
In the meantime, for those looking to calm their nerves without consuming alcohol, Montgomery suggests trying practices like mindfulness, meditation and relaxing strategies at home.
He reminds consumers that alcohol is still one of the number one problems in terms of health effects, saying it is the number one compound that gets overused and over-abused as well as can have cardiovascular and central nervous system effects.