New protein gel prevents harmful effects of alcohol

Drink and enjoy alcohol without having to feel the harmful consequences? It sounds almost too good to be true. But researchers at ETH Zurich have now developed a new type of protein gel that breaks down alcohol into harmless substances in the gastrointestinal tract. As the team reports in the scientific journal "Nature Nanotechnology", the gel quickly and efficiently converts alcohol into harmless acetic acid before it enters the bloodstream, where it develops its intoxicating and harmful effects. The researchers demonstrated this in mice.

"The gel shifts the breakdown of alcohol from the liver to the digestive tract. In contrast to alcohol metabolism in the liver, this does not produce the harmful intermediate product acetaldehyde," explains Raffaele Mezzenga, Professor of Food and Soft Materials at ETH Zurich, according to a press release from the university. Acetaldehyde is toxic and is responsible for liver disease, inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract and cancer, among other things. The substance also causes the "hangover" the day after a night of drinking. According to the World Health Organisation, around three million people die every year as a result of excessive alcohol consumption.

However, the gel is only effective while the alcohol is still in the gastrointestinal tract. It can therefore no longer help with alcohol poisoning if the ethanol has already entered the bloodstream, the researchers warn. Nor does it help to reduce consumption in general. "It's healthier not to drink alcohol at all," says Mezzenga. "However, the gel may be of interest to people who don't want to give up alcohol completely, but don't want to burden their body and aren't interested in the effects of alcohol."

The gel consists of beta-lactoglobulin, a common whey protein that is a by-product of cheese production. Gels have the advantage over other forms of administration that they are digested very slowly. In order to catalyse alcohol oxidation, the team distributed iron atoms evenly over the surface of the protein fibres. They mimic the coordination structure of the body's own enzyme, which is responsible for the breakdown of alcohol. Tiny amounts of hydrogen peroxide are also required. These are produced by an upstream reaction between glucose and gold nanoparticles. The researchers integrated all of these substances - iron, glucose and gold - into the gel. This enables a multi-stage sequence of enzymatic reactions.

The authors then tested the hydrogel on mice. They found that it remained stable in the rodents' digestive tract, tolerated the environment there and significantly lowered the animals' blood alcohol levels without the formation of toxic acetaldehyde. The researchers have already applied for a patent for the gel. However, a number of clinical tests are still required before it can be approved for use in humans.

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