To say that alcohol is a part of human culture is a bit of an understatement. The relationship our species has with alcohol can be traced so far back that we see evidence of it in our DNA, in the way that humans, somewhat unique among mammals, gained the ability to more efficiently metabolize dietary ethanol. But while many of us have personal experience with the effects (and unpleasant aftereffects) that alcohol has on our body, how much do we know about why it makes us feel the way it does? What is alcohol doing to our bodies, to our brains? In this episode, we take a long look at this compound, from the varied effects it has on our bodies to the long history it shares with humans. Tune in to our Season 4 finale to hear why hangovers exist, how fermenting fruits on the forest floor led us to intentional production, and the truth behind all of those headlines advocating for a glass of red wine a day to keep the doctor away.
| History | Biology |
| Phillips, Rod. Alcohol: A history. UNC Press Books, 2014. | Pohorecky, L.A. and Brick, J., 1988. Pharmacology of ethanol. Pharmacology & Therapeutics, 36(2-3), pp.335-427. |
| Slingerland, Edward. Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization. Little, Brown Spark, 2021. | Lieber, C.S., 2005. Metabolism of alcohol. Clinics in liver disease, 9(1), pp.1-35. |
| Carrigan, Matthew A., et al. “Hominids adapted to metabolize ethanol long before human-directed fermentation.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 112.2 (2015): 458-463. | Cederbaum, A.I., 2012. Alcohol metabolism. Clinics in liver disease, 16(4), pp.667-685. |
| Janiak, Mareike C., et al. “Genetic evidence of widespread variation in ethanol metabolism among mammals: revisiting the ‘myth’of natural intoxication.” Biology letters 16.4 (2020): 20200070. | Thoma, R., Mullins, P., Ruhl, D., Monnig, M., Yeo, R.A., Caprihan, A., Bogenschutz, M., Lysne, P., Tonigan, S., Kalyanam, R. and Gasparovic, C., 2011. Perturbation of the glutamate–glutamine system in alcohol dependence and remission. Neuropsychopharmacology, 36(7), pp.1359-1365. |
| Thompson, Claudia E., Loreta B. Freitas, and Francisco M. Salzano. “Molecular evolution and functional divergence of alcohol dehydrogenases in animals, fungi and plants.” Genetics and molecular biology 41 (2018): 341-354. | Isenberg-Grzeda, E., Kutner, H.E. and Nicolson, S.E., 2012. Wernicke-Korsakoff-syndrome: under-recognized and under-treated. Psychosomatics, 53(6), pp.507-516. |
| C Verster, J. and Penning, R., 2010. Treatment and prevention of alcohol hangover. Current drug abuse reviews, 3(2), pp.103-109. | |
| Paulsen, F.M., 1961. A hair of the dog and some other hangover cures from popular tradition. The Journal of American Folklore, 74(292), pp.152-168. | |
| Kranzler, H.R. and Soyka, M., 2018. Diagnosis and pharmacotherapy of alcohol use disorder: a review. Jama, 320(8), pp.815-824. | |
| Rehm, J., Room, R., MONTEiRO, M., Gmel, G., Graham, K., Rehn, N., Sempos, C.T., Frick, U., Jernigan, D., Ezzati, M. and Lopez, A.D., 2004. Alcohol use.From Comparative quantification of health risks, Volume 1. WHO Geneva. | |
| WHO Alcohol Factsheet. 21 Sept 2018. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/alcohol | |
| Heather, N., 2021. Let’s not turn back the clock: comments on Kelly et al.,“alcoholics anonymous and 12-step facilitation treatments for alcohol use disorder: a distillation of a 2020 Cochrane review for clinicians and policy makers”. Alcohol and Alcoholism, 56(4), pp.377-379. | |
| Ferri, M., Amato, L. and Davoli, M., 2006. Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12‐step programmes for alcohol dependence. Cochrane database of systematic reviews, (3). | |
| Kelly, J.F., Abry, A., Ferri, M. and Humphreys, K., 2020. Alcoholics anonymous and 12-step facilitation treatments for alcohol use disorder: A distillation of a 2020 Cochrane review for clinicians and policy makers. Alcohol and alcoholism, 55(6), pp.641-651. | |
| Lim, A.W., Van Schalkwyk, M.C., Maani Hessari, N. and Petticrew, M.P., 2019. Pregnancy, fertility, breastfeeding, and alcohol consumption: An analysis of framing and completeness of information disseminated by alcohol industry–funded organizations. Journal of studies on alcohol and drugs, 80(5), pp.524-533. | |
| Mamluk, L., Edwards, H.B., Savović, J., Leach, V., Jones, T., Moore, T.H., Ijaz, S., Lewis, S.J., Donovan, J.L., Lawlor, D. and Smith, G.D., 2017. Low alcohol consumption and pregnancy and childhood outcomes: time to change guidelines indicating apparently ‘safe’levels of alcohol during pregnancy? A systematic review and meta-analyses. BMJ open, 7(7), p.e015410. | |
| Sundermann, A.C., Zhao, S., Young, C.L., Lam, L., Jones, S.H., Velez Edwards, D.R. and Hartmann, K.E., 2019. Alcohol use in pregnancy and miscarriage: a systematic review and meta‐analysis. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 43(8), pp.1606-1616. | |
| Ferreira, M.P. and Willoughby, D., 2008. Alcohol consumption: the good, the bad, and the indifferent. Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism, 33(1), pp.12-20. | |
| Walker, R.K., Cousins, V.M., Umoh, N.A., Jeffress, M.A., Taghipour, D., Al‐Rubaiee, M. and Haddad, G.E., 2013. The good, the bad, and the ugly with alcohol use and abuse on the heart. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 37(8), pp.1253-1260. |
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