GABA Labs, based in London, is one of a few companies working on a synthetic alcohol without the downsides.
According to press stories about it, their synthetic alcohol Alcarelle will still get you tipsy - relaxed, chatty, and happy - without the following negative side effects:
Hangovers. Obviously, one of the biggest downsides of drinking is the next day’s hangover that hits ever harder as we age. Synthetic alcohol wouldn’t leave you with a pounding headache, but allow you to wake up clear-headed and energized.
Clumsiness. Who hasn’t twisted an ankle misjudging a sidewalk while drunk? People are less physically stable and therefore significantly more injury-prone with the real thing. Alcarelle promises you won’t be clumsier after a drink or two.
Stupidity. Being drunk on real alcohol negatively affects your short-term memory and your multi-tasking, planning, and speaking abilities. Alcarelle is supposed to leave you mentally functioning, unlikely to make stupid, risky decisions like its natural counterpart.
On top of that, it’s flavorless, so it can be easily added to any drink.
It sounds incredibly exciting. Let’s be clear: something like this could really help people, if it isn’t as harmful as alcohol itself. The company says they may struggle with regulatory hurdles with getting synthetic alcohol to market. But that’s not the only reason it may struggle, despite an alluring premise.
The problem is that this calming synthetic alcohol is still attempting to affect brain chemistry in some of the same ways alcohol does.
Alcohol causes more production of GABA, a neurotransmitter that makes you feel relaxed. Unfortunately, as you recover from drinking, your brain fights back against alcohol’s calming effects. This can result in heightened anxiety after drinking, or “hangxiety.” Because it uses the same neurotransmitter, synthetic alcohol may still have this effect of increasing anxiety.
On top of that, synthetic alcohol may struggle to compete with zero-alcohol drinks that are all-natural and plant-based.
We’re all learning about the dangers of a diet high in ultra-processed foods for both mental and physical health lately. Testing will need to determine whether synthetic alcohol has any long-term health effects. After all, many people choose to cut back or quit drinking purely on the basis of the long-term health risks: increased risk of heart disease, several forms of cancer, and of course, liver disease.
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