4 ms·
My understanding is that the major carcinogen from drinking is acetylaldehyde, a metabolic product of alcohol consumption, not alcohol itself. Funnily enough th
by winchling 8y ago
My understanding is that the major carcinogen from drinking is acetylaldehyde, a metabolic product of alcohol consumption, not alcohol itself. Funnily enough the body also gets acetylaldehyde from cigarette smoke. A way of reducing build-up of this toxic compound, responsible for the sweet-smelling breath of the heavily inebriated, is to supplement with N-acetylcysteine (NAC) at least half an hour before drinking. This helps the liver to keep up with the metabolic load. B vitamins also help.
However, it seems to me that (I'm not a doctor so don't take this as medical fact or advice; I'd be grateful to be proved wrong) all forms of visceral pleasure act to dampen the immune system, at least slightly, at least temporarily. Which would reduce the body's ability to destroy existing precancerous cells. Not much the committed hedonist can do about that...
- theNJR 8y agoNote that it MUST be taken prior to consumption: "Pretreatment with NAC significantly protected against acute ethanol-induced liver damage in a dose-independent manner. Correspondingly, pretreatment with NAC significantly attenuated acute ethanol-induced lipid peroxidation and GSH depletion and inhibited hepatic TNF-alpha mRNA expression. By contrast, post-treatment with NAC aggravated ethanol-induced hepatic lipid peroxidation and worsened acute ethanol-induced liver damage in a dose-dependent manner. Taken together, NAC has a dual effect on acute ethanol-induced liver damage. Pretreatment with NAC prevent from acute ethanol-induced liver damage via counteracting ethanol-induced oxidative stress. When administered after ethanol, NAC might behave as a pro-oxidant and aggravate acute ethanol-induced liver damage." https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16439183 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16439183