![]() Since it takes about one hour for the body to metabolize one drink, a night of heavy drinking causes the liver to keep churning out the chemicals that make people feel woozy for so long. The liver converts alcohol into an aldehyde with properties like formaldehyde, which contribute to headache and nausea. “This line of research suggests that DHM acts on multiple pathways to promote liver health and counteract ethanol injury.”ĭavies, who is also director of the Alcohol and Brain Research Laboratory at USC, said the findings also help explain how DHM works as a hangover treatment. “In total, these findings support the utility of DHM as a dietary supplement to reduce ethanol-induced liver injury via changes in lipid metabolism, enhancement of ethanol metabolism and suppressing inflammation responses to promote liver health,” the study said. Excessive alcohol leads to the release of cytokines in the liver, which contributes to cellular damage to the liver and other organs. Reduced inflammatory agents, called cytokines.Heavy doses of alcohol can negatively affect the liver’s metabolism, leading to an accumulation of fat, increased stress and the eventual progression to liver diseases such as cirrhosis. Reduced lipid (fat) accumulation in liver tissue.Boosted the efficiency of ADH and ALDH, enabling the enzymes to convert ethanol into simpler forms the body can eliminate easier.Triggered the liver to produce more ethanol-gobbling enzymes, including alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) and acetaldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH).During a hangover, the fogginess in your brain is an acute reaction to what’s going on in your body,” said Daryl Davies, a study co-author and professor of clinical pharmacy in the USC School of Pharmacy.Īmong other significant effects, the scientists found that DHM: “It’s like stepping on a tack your brain says it hurts. Though the alcohol affects the brain, it is metabolized primarily by the liver, which is significantly harmed by long-term, high levels of alcohol consumption. ![]() The researchers focused on the liver, Liang said, because when you take a drink, alcohol circulates through the bloodstream. Then, they assessed their livers for injury and markers of stress. To better understand what the drug does inside the body, the scientists fed 36 mice a daily diet of alcohol for two months, gradually increasing doses to 30% of their total food intake for an average of 39.4 g/kg of ethanol per day per mouse. It’s been used in China for liver ailments for 500 years, but how the substance works is unclear.ĭaryl Davies, Joshua Silva and Jing Liang, from left, worked on the study. Understanding how DHM can prevent hangovers and protect liversĭHM is derived from fruit from the Japanese raisin tree ( Hovenia dulcis), which is native to Japan, Korea and Southeast Asia and now commercially grown. Meanwhile, excessive alcohol consumption is a significant cause of chronic liver disease, accounting for nearly half of the cirrhosis-associated deaths in the United States, according to the study. There is no effective therapeutic agent for the disorder without major side effects. Globally, alcohol consumption contributes to 3 million deaths each year and is responsible for 5.1% of the global burden of disease, according to the World Health Organization. ![]() Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 88,000 people die of alcohol-related deaths annually - the third leading preventable cause of death in the United States, according to the U.S. In addition, the authors say the substance likely has wider applications to help people cope with binge drinking, alcoholism and liver damage.Īlcohol use disorders constitute the most common form of substance abuse. The findings support the utility of DHM as a dietary supplement to offset acute alcohol-related effects as well as long-term risks. The study appears today in Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. “We know DHM helps the body to metabolize alcohol faster, but how does it work? We found it activates a cascade of mechanisms that erase alcohol from the body very quickly,” said Jing Liang, a research professor of clinical pharmacy and the corresponding author of the study. When researchers at the USC School of Pharmacy sought to understand how it works, their investigation revealed a sequence of metabolic changes responsible not only for easing headaches but also benefitting the liver. The study focuses on dihydromyricetin (DHM), also known as ampelopsin, an over-the-counter herbal remedy. ![]() (Illustration/Philipp Franz von Siebold and Joseph Gerhard Zuccarini) Hovenia dulcis - known as the Japanese raisin tree - is the source of dihydromyricetin (DHM), which can help the body metabolize alcohol faster.
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