NMR-based monitoring of the hangover curing effects of deep sea water minerals

Abstract

The term "hangover" refers to symptoms such as headache, heartburn, nausea, and dizziness caused by acetaldehyde created through alcohol decomposition in the body after alcohol intake. Many scientists have conducted research on diverse drugs, foods, and medicinal herbs aimed at eliminating hangovers. However, research on metabolism to objectively verify or measure their effects on hangover symptoms has been lacking. Accordingly, in this study, deep sea water minerals were administered orally at varying concentrations to rats that consumed alcohol, and changes in the levels of amino acids in their bodies were measured using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to gauge the minerals' effects on hangover symptoms. Thus far, biochemical research on hangover cures has been confined to basic research measuring changes in the levels of alcohol dehydrogenase and acetaldehyde dehydrogenase as well as in the concentrations of ethanol, acetaldehyde, and acetate using spectroscopes such as enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kits or gas chromatography-mass spectrometers. In comparison, this study presents pharmacokinetic research that simultaneously tracked biomaterials including amino acids and organic acids, metabolites associated with hangover, to clarify hangover mechanisms more specifically. In addition, this study examined hangover mechanisms without an external supply of tracked materials not overlapping with alcohol metabolism-related materials, such as external amino acids and sugars.

Figure 1. One-dimensional proton NMR analysis of serum. NMR spectra of serum obtained at 6 h after the post-administration of several concentration of deep sea water. Numbers indicate individual metabolites as follows: 1, isoleucine/valine; 2, leucine; 3, ethanol; 4, 3-hydroxybutyrate; 5, lactate; 6, threonine; 7, alanine; 8, acetate; 9, methionine; 10, glutamine; 11, adipic acid; 12, acetoacetate; 13, pyruvate; 14, citrate; 15, creatine; 16, creatinine; 17, lysine; 18, choline; 19, arginine; 20, trimethylamine N-oxide; 21, proline; 22, glycine; 23, glycerol; 24, ethylene glycol; 25, glucose; 26, phenylalanine.

Figure 2. Schematic representation of alcohol metabolism. Hepatic metabolic changes associated to ethanol metabolism are shown. ADH, ALDH, NAD and NADH⁺ indicate alcohol dehydrogenase, acetaldehyde dehydrogenase, and oxidized and reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, respectively.

Figure 3. Effects of DSMW on the blood alcohol concentration of rats. Each point represents the mean±SD for group of six rats. Results of the control group (alcohol plus distilled water and group treated with DSMW(T1-T4) (alcohol plus DSMW) are shown. *p<0.05 and **p<0.01 indicate, significances of results.

Table 1. Comparison of mineral contents of deep sea water (DSW) and sea water. The mineral ingredient content of each DSW and seawater wre analyzed by the Adur Outdoor Activities Centre (AOAC) method.

Table 2. Quantitative comparison of 12 metabolites found in blood of normal, control and alcohol treated rats. The relative concentration was determined using 1H NMR analysis.

Table 3. Concentration ratios of 8 metabolites found in blood of normal, control, and alcohol treated rats. Abbreviations are as follows: E/A, Ethanol/Acetate; L/P, Lactate/Pyruvate; A/3-HB, Acetoacetate/3-Hydroxybutyrate; Gln/Glu, Glutamine/Glutamate.