Cymric wrote:
Since you are a chemist, consider the following: ethanol is readily transformed into ethanal, which is the nasty chemical your body doesn't respond well to---and also causes hangover symptoms. (I was taught however that dehydration is the main cause of heangovers.) Ethanal is catalytically broken down by means of a copper-containing peptide. Imagine what would happen if you fed a heavy drinker a small dose of a very strongly copper-complexing compound, say EDTA or a derivative.
I know EDTA is already used in medicine to complex with metals, in coronary patients at least, so it could work in theory. Supposing it actually did work and it inhibited the action of the enzyme responsible for oxidising ethanol. The overall effect on the body from ethanol then would be much the same as for other members of the primary alcohol family, which we have no enzymes to protect against: that is, blindness, CNS damage, liver scarring, and probable death. Dying is one way to cure a hangover I suppose...
