LONGECITY

I've noticed that for a few days to a week after drinking alcohol my memory goes to crap and my mind doesn't seem to be as responsive as normal.

What kinds of nutrients would you recommend taking before and/or after drinking to minimize the effects?

(and no, stopping drinking altogether for the rest of my life is not an option I'd like to consider)

Thanks for any insight.

there are supplements/pills for hangovers. they contain b-vitamins, etc. look them up.

I did a presentation about this a few weeks ago. Alcoholics are generally deficient in everything. In my research, I found that Thiamin, niacin, magnesium and folate deficits produce the most Sx.

This PDF is a long read but has a lot of good info.

http://cghane.netfirms.com/Tu163.pdf

I also found that taking zinc with chronic alcohol consumption will help prevent cirrhosis altogether. Zinc + All the -OH you want = no Cirrhosis. That was kinda cool. Taurine has a similar effect.

GO TO GOOGLE

Type this in the search thingy:

alcohol acetalhyde vitamin C thiamine lipoic acid n-acetyl cysteine

Yes, I am also very interested in this topic... But more related to what supplements would be beneficial around drinking ie before/during/after (as opposed to general supplementation to counter frequent alcohol consumption).

I typically indulge in alcohol around once a fortnight, at the moment I am just taking (handful of normal regular supps aside) a B-Complex and extra Vitamin C before hand... I am very interested in any potential improvements, including possibly ingesting some supplements throughout the course of the night when consuming anything from 1-2 drinks per hour. I see myself most likely continuing this behaviour for the next 3-5 years so would be good to minimise the damage in that time!

I've had some correspondence with a pretty knowledgeable member of this forum on this topic (I won't name them because it was a private conversation) and they are doing:

I've been experimenting with N-Acetyl-Cysteine, milk thistle and sometimes SAM-e. I try to take one NAC capsule (600 mg) + one vit C capsule (NOW Foods) every four hours. I've read good things about NAC but I can't say I've seen any miracles with hangovers -- water is still the best way to prevent that. But maybe some kind of internal damage is being prevented, who knows. Sometimes I do take a B-complex as well.

GO TO GOOGLE

Type this in the search thingy:

alcohol acetalhyde vitamin C thiamine lipoic acid n-acetyl cysteine

Ok I found this:

Below is a range of possible nutrient levels that may offer protection to those suffering from chronic AH toxicity.

NUTRIENT AMOUNT/DAY
(divide into 2-3 doses, take with meals)

Thiamin (B1) 50-500 mg
Niacin or Niacinamide (B3)* 50-500 mg
Pantothenic Acid (B5) (Pantethine) 25-200 mg
Pyridoxine (B6) 25-150 mg
N-Acetyl-Cysteine (NAC) 500-2000 mg
Ascorbate © 500-3000 mg
Zinc (Monomethionine, Ascorbate or Citrate) 15-30 mg
Gamma Linolenic Acid (GLA)** 120-480 mg
Lipoic Acid (Thioctic Acid) 50-200 mg
Silymarin (Milk Thistle Extract, 70-80%) 200-600 mg

Also ingredients of CHP™ (Comprehensive Hangover Prevention)

Vitamin C (as Ascorbic Acid) 50 mg 83%
Thiamine (as Thiamine Propyl Disulfide) 10 mg 660%
Riboflavin (Vitamin B-2) 3 mg 174%
Vitamin B-6 (as Pyridoxine HCI) 3 mg 150%
Vitamin B-12 (as Cyanocobalamin) 250 mcg 1425%
Folic Acid 400 mcg 100%
L-Glutamine 200 mg †
N-Acetyl-Cysteine 40 mg †
Phosphatidylcholine 50 mg †
Milk Thistle Extract (Silybum marianum) (seed)
(standardized to 80% silymarin) 40 mg †
Dextrose 200 mg †
Fumaric Acid 100 mg †
Succinic Acid 250 mg †

Looks to be a fair bit of overlap/correlation so far, that said I did search "alcohol acetalhyde vitamin C thiamine lipoic acid n-acetyl cysteine" so hardly surprising (but weight is added by the correlation of these compounds and the list given to me by the aforementioned informed member in my last post)
Edited by icantgoforthat, 07 May 2010 - 02:06 AM.

Heh, try pyritinol the morning after. From one person to another - you'll thank me later. Alcohol depletes B vitamins, mainly thiamine(B1), so get a B complex with an additional bottle of thiamine and B-5. Take daily. Taking WITH alcohol doesn't work. You need to take it on the "recovery" period usually known as the hangover, which I don't usually get, but apparently is common with others.

Fun question and certainly glad I could help, as I have been through the exact same thing!

The body uses molybdenum to process alcohol, or the by product of alcohol (acetylaldehyde sp??).

Glutathione

In my experience, a good B-complex is the key to minimizing hangovers.

I also found that taking zinc with chronic alcohol consumption will help prevent cirrhosis altogether. Zinc + All the -OH you want = no Cirrhosis. That was kinda cool. Taurine has a similar effect.

As we all know as well, Silymarin is also good for this:

Silymarin retards the progression of alcohol-induced hepatic fibrosis in baboons.
Lieber CS, Leo MA, Cao Q, Ren C, DeCarli LM.

Section of Liver Disease & Nutrition, Bronx VA Medical Center & Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Bronx, New York 10468, USA. liebercs@aol.com

Abstract
GOAL/BACKGROUND: Hepatoprotective effects of silymarin in patients with alcoholic liver disease are controversial. For strict control, this was assessed in non-human primates. STUDY Twelve baboons were fed alcohol with or without silymarin for 3 years with a nutritionally adequate diet. RESULTS: Silymarin opposed the alcohol-induced oxidative stress (assessed by plasma 4-hydroxynonenal) and the rise in liver lipids and circulating ALT. Alcohol also increased hepatic collagen type I by 50% over the 3 years with a significant rise in mRNA for alpha1 (I) procollagen, both prevented by silymarin. There were corresponding morphologic changes: at 36 months, 2 of 6 animals fed alcohol had cirrhosis and 2 septal fibrosis, with perivenular fibrosis in 2, whereas with alcohol + silymarin, there was only 1 cirrhosis and 1 septal fibrosis, with perivenular fibrosis in 2, and virtually no lesions in the remaining 2. CONCLUSIONS: Silymarin retards the development of alcohol-induced hepatic fibrosis in baboons, consistent with several positive clinical trials. The negative outcome observed in other trials possibly reflects poor compliance resulting in irregular or low silymarin intake. Thus, in view of the innocuity of silymarin, it might be advisable in future clinical studies to insure the controlled administration of sufficient amounts of silymarin
PMID: 14506392