Subject: Re: Alcohol-Herb-Rats

From: [email-masked] (Paul Iannone)
Date: 30 Aug 1995 02:12:49 GMT

In message ID <[email-masked]> on 8/23/95, Thomas Lasken
wrote:

: Some time ago I read an article about an herb which greatly diminishes 
: the craving for alcohol.  It was in a report where the animals used for 
: testing are notorious for one quality:  they love alcohol and would 
: rather consume that than eat or drink.  I don't remember if they were 
: rats, mice, or what.  The article reported that when given this herb, the 
: animals stopped preferring alcohol over water and generally appeared to 
: have lost their taste for alcohol.  Does anyone know of this herb or the 
: study?
: 
: Thanks.

This is the infamous kudzu root report, published by Newsweek a year or two
ago. It is, essentially, nonsense. There is a chemical in kudzu that blocks
the enzymatic action of alcohol dehydogenase--which means that you cannot
detox alcohol, so you get sick, so you don't crave alcohol as much. It is, in
other words, an aversion therapy, not a magical herb that takes away craving.

--Paul  ||  [email-masked]
--