Debunk the RU21 hangover buster

[HMS_Irruncible]

I was a very, very, poor student of biochemistry, so this product sounds entirely reasonable to me. The RU21 product claims to alter the body’s metabolism of alcohol by introducing an excess of a citric acid cycle mediary, thereby decreasing the amount of hangover-producing aldehydes in the system.

What category does this fall into? Proven effective? Anecdotally effective? Plausible but not proven effective? Completely implausible?

http://www.ru21.to/ru_21_more.htm

HOW RU21 WORKS
When alcohol is consumed, it enters cells and is broken down into acetaldehyde. Acetaldehyde is an extremely toxic compound believed to be responsible for both, most alcohol-related diseases and the addictive process itself.
The reaction is as follows:
CH3CH2OH+NAD+® CH3CHO+NADN+H+ (1)
Then an enzyme called aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2) converts the acetaldehyde into acetic acid, which is non-toxic and can be readily used by the body to provide energy, eventually breaking down into water and carbon dioxide. However, the body is only able to metabolize a certain amount of acetaldehyde within a certain period of time regardless of how much alcohol is being consumed. Consequently, alcohol consumption often results in excess acetaldehyde entering blood stream and causing severe damage to the vital organs and functions of the body.
RU21 balances alcohol metabolism by slowing down the process of ethanol oxidation into acetaldehyde, so less acetaldehyde occurs in the first place, and then speeding up the process of acetaldehyde decomposition into acetic acid and then water and carbon dioxide.
The first task – slowing down ethanol oxidation into acetaldehyde was accomplished by the inclusion of dextrose (glucose) into the formula. Dextrose rapidly oxidizes in cytosol of liver cells using the same cytosol NAD pool used by ethanol to convert into acetaldehyde, thereby creating a deficit of cytosol NAD needed for the reaction (1) shown above.
Further, the acceleration of decomposition of acetaldehyde and acetic acid into CO2 and H2O and the energizing of mitochondria were accomplished through activation of aerobic oxidation processes in mitochondria by way of introducing substrates (Succinic Acid, Fumaric Acid), which activate the second half-cycle of tricarboxylic acids. Succinate substrate, which is independent of NADN-dehydrogenase prevents acetaldehyde from causing hypoxia, which often results form the accumulation of suboxidized metabolites, and from impeding NADN oxidation in the respiratory chain of cells.
L-Glutamine was added to the formula to speed up the mitochondria-cytosolic malate-aspartate shuttle, which plays key role in the course of acetaldehyde intoxication development. It also speeds up succinate oxidation process (by preventing oxalic and acetic inhibition of succinate dehydrogenase). In addition, it transforms itself into a-ketoglutarate during a rapid oxidation in Crebs cycle. And finally, the proper concentration of L-Glutamine positively influences glutamate and GAMC synapses in the brain, improving coordination and inhibition processes affected by alcohol intoxication.

[wevets]

I’m bumping this because I’m also curious, and have a miniscule contribution.

It seems like a lot of the problems associated with hangovers have a lot to do with dehydration. Headaches, etc. This seems unlikely to be able to influence that, even though they do talk about breaking acetic acid down into CO[sub]2[/sub] and H[sub]2[/sub]O.

It’s also usually called the Krebs Cycle, rather than the Crebs Cycle. That proves exactly nothing, but it sets off my alarm bells when a published ‘scientific’ explanation contains obvious misspellings.

[Purd_Werfect]

I know it’s a month old, but I’ll give this one more bump as I’m also interested in finding out the veracity of the claims made for RU21. I’d appreciate both anecdotal first-hand experiences, and any scientific evidence for or against that anyone can provide.