Hey there, thanks for tuning in to the Nutrition Diva podcast. I'm your host, Monica Rineagle,

and with the holidays now just around the corner and all these festive gatherings filling up our schedules,

I have noticed a definite surge in marketing for products that claim to lessen the effects

or the harms of alcohol. They promise everything from reducing blood alcohol levels more

quickly to helping you feel better after a night out. And at this time of year, the idea of being

able to party with fewer risks or consequences might seem especially appealing.

But how much of this is backed by solid science and how much of this is just clever marketing?

Today, I'm going to give you my assessment of two products that you may have seen popping up in your feed recently,

Zbiotic and ShureShot. Zbiotic is a probiotic

liquid that claims to break down acetaldehyde, which is produced when our bodies metabolize

alcohol. A buildup of acetaldehyde in the body is linked to some of the unpleasant effects that we might feel

after drinking alcohol, such as headache, upset stomach, and so on. So something that breaks it down

faster sounds pretty promising, right? Just as a refresher, let's review how alcohol is metabolized

in the body. When you consume alcohol,

it enters your bloodstream pretty quickly through the lining of your stomach and the small intestine,

and it then travels through the bloodstream to the liver where it's metabolized in a two-step

process. First, the alcohol is converted by an enzyme, and that enzyme is called

alcohol dehydrogenase, or ADH, into acetaldehyde. And then a second enzyme called aldehyde dehydrogenase,

or ALDH, converts acetaldehyde into acetate. If we're only taking in small amounts of alcohol,

this whole process works brilliantly, efficiently converting toxic substances into harmless ones,

which are then excreted out of the body. But if we drink too much alcohol, or we drink it too quickly, the body can't keep up. And blood

alcohol and acetaldehyde levels will remain high and that can create a variety of toxic effects.

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