Does alcohol make you drunk before or after it is converted in to something that gives you a beer belly? If the former, might be an idea to design something that stops that bit.
Otherwise… at what point does it cause liver poisinoning? Might be a good idea to design something that stops that.
Surprised no one has done this already. Massive market.
Technically, the answer is “before”. But that doesn’t really matter.
Alcohol contains almost as many calories as fat. These calories are the main cause of beer bellies. You cannot stop it any more than you can stop, say, burgers being stored as fat.
I don’t know anything about biology, but don’t see why there is a theoretical objection to creating some sort of drug that would prevent the stuff being converted in to fat. (Likewise with fat!). I 'm not saying that it would be easy, of course…
ethanol -> acetaldehyde, acetaldehyde -> acetate, acetate -> acetyl CoA
Once it’s acetyl CoA, the conversion to body fat is not stoppable.
If we stop the conversion to acetaldehyde, we will accumulate acetaldehyde, which is somewhat toxic. (Accumulation of this molecule is the cause of blushing, headaches, etc, in many asians, who have a defective acetaldehyde dehydrogenase enzyme.)
I don’t see stopping the conversion at acetate being of any use. A continual accumulation of acetate will be harmful. Besides, its caused by an enzyme that also has important function in fatty acid reactions.
But an interesting thought is stopping the breakdown at alcohol, by somehow inactivating the alcohol dehydrogenase enzyme. I cannot right now think of a reason why this would be a problem.
To be absolutely accurate, for beer bellies the alcohol is only part of the problem.
Beer has additional calories in comparison to booze because of its additional carbohydrate content. A regular 12-ounce beer contains almost 150 calories, while a 1.5 ounce jigger of distilled 80-proof distilled liquor comes in at just under 100. While it would seem contrary to common wisdom to advise a beer drinker to switch to gin, he or she would lower their calorie intake through drink by a third, assuming the same actual amount of alcohol is being consumed.
The link below says that wine comes in at only 70 calories, but the 3.5 ounce glass they cite is probably smaller than what most people pour.