Vacationing and partying on this 2009 holiday season : What to drink?

Just some information about festive drinking,
metabolic BO and halitosis, and intestinal microbiota…

Topics of discussion:
1. Aldehyde dehydrogenase enzyme (ALDH)
2. Increased gut permeability
3. Choline- and betaine-defined diets
4. Sulfites and Wine
5. The ‘fruity drink’ and gut fermentation

1. Aldehyde dehydrogenase enzyme : There is a drug called Antabuse that is sometimes used in treating alcoholism, which basically deactivates or depresses the metabolic enzyme, Aldehyde Dehydrogenase (ALDH), to produce a bad reaction to alcohol. This enzyme deals with aldehydes, and in the case of alcohol, it deals with the resulting acetaldehyde (very toxic) to break it down to acetate (non-toxic). Alcohol is ethanol, and is usually detoxed in this way:

Ethanol (mildly toxic) > Acetaldehyde (very toxic) > Acetate (non-toxic)

Discussion : The question then is, does the intoxicated state produce the type of odor BO sufferers tend to have, or is it just the 'normal' smell of alcohol? Could there be other factors involved in conjunction with ALDH, or instead of ALDH, that produces strong BO? For additional discussion, see: Festive drinking and metabolic body odor : For those 'intolerant'.

2. Increased gut permeability : A study done by the Department of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology at Loyola University Medical School, Maywood, Illinois, indicated that only those alcoholics with leaky gut develop cirrhosis. See this 1999 PubMed paper: Leaky gut in alcoholic cirrhosis: a possible mechanism for alcohol-induced liver damage, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9934756.

Discussion : It would be interesting to see if the odor emitted by these persons with leaky gut who suffer from alcoholism is the same as the odor emitted by those who do not suffer from leaky gut. The study did not include this information. For additional discussion, see: Label : gut permeability.
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...the cause of body odor produced by alcohol consumption may be based on personal trigger(s), such as choline, sulfites sensitivities, glucose in fruity drinks, and/or the alcohol itself.....3. 'Choline- and betaine-defined diets for use in clinical research and for the management of trmethylaminuria’, a study published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, Volume 104, Issue 12, Pages 1836-1845, http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0002822304015743, entitled, . As I noted in another post in this forum, Table 3 of this research consists of foods categorized by food group and level of choline and betaine content, and includes the following information:

WHITE WINE, 4oz/120g contains 6.180mg of choline and 0.180mg of betaine per serving.
LIGHT BEER, 12oz/360g, contains 25.416mg of choline and 25.092mg of betaine per serving. [
REGULAR BEER, 12oz/360g, contains 34.956mg of choline and 34.992mg of betaine per serving.

Discussion : If a person has TMAU and thus cannot metabolize TMA, then choline would be a factor when determining which alcoholic beverage to chose from (if any). But in addition to possibly having an ALDH deficiency, and/or an FMO3 deficiency that does not metabolize choline, what about also having allergies or sensitivities to sulfites? For additional discussion, see: Vacationing-and-partying-on-choline-and.html.

4. Sulfites and Wine : http://www.wineintro.com/glossary/s/sulfites.html.

Sulfites are a naturally occurring compound that nature uses to prevent microbial growth. They are found on grapes, onions, garlic, and on many other growing plants. No wine can ever be "sulfite free", since they come in with the grapes... Winemakers have been adding additional sulfites to wines for millenia...For people who have a sulfite sensitivity, the sulfites can lead to serious headaches. White wines have more sulfites than red wines, so this can be a way to determine if sulfites might be the problem. Sulfites, used improperly, can also give a rotten-egg smell to a wine.

Discussion : Unfortunately, this article only talks about a "rotten-egg smell to a wine", but not to humans...!!! Perhaps it is because BO sufferers have never united and organized the way we are doing now to become available for testing.

This article states that,

"White wines have more sulfites than red wines"; so, if BO is triggered by choline, then white wine would produce less odor, but if BO is triggered by sulfites, then red wines, especially young wines, would be the best option to minimize BO.

The author recommends "young wines" that have only the 'natural sulfites' without added sulfites. Nonetheless, "...a wine without added sulfites cannot last long. Usually 18 months is the longest a sulfite-free wine would survive. This includes the time the wine spent at the winery, at the wine shop as well as in your basement! So while no-sulfites-added is fine for "drink young" wines like Chardonnay, it would not be good for a "drink in a year" wine like a Cabernet Sauvignon."

5. The ‘fruity drinks’ and gut fermentation : The principle of the Gut Fermentation Test performed in the MEBO-Biolab Gut Dysbiosis Study is that yeast cells in the gut ferment glucose to alcohol, which then passes into the blood stream. This test follows the changes in blood alcohol concentrations following a glucose challenge. It tests for a number of alcohols and fatty acids that are regarded as metabolites of bacterial or fungal fermentation in the gut and/or small intestine.

The results of the first 3 testers (BO sufferers) in this study, show that 2 of the three have raised ethanol fermentation consistent with yeast overgrowth. Of the three tested, all three showed some malabsorption, or abnormal gut permeability (leaky gut). We are waiting for the results of two others who have already tested.

If a sufferer who has this type of gut dysbiosis drinks a sweet substance like a fruity or sugar-based drink, it will then be fermented by the yeast and/or bacterial overgrowth, and if he/she suffers from a leaky gut, it will permeate into the blood, and possibly produce greater odor, particularly if there is a xenobiotic enzymes (FMO3) deficiency. This is currently the topic of investigation in the MEBO-Biolab Study.

In conclusion, the cause of body odor produced by alcohol consumption may be based on personal trigger(s), such as choline, sulfites sensitivities, glucose in fruity drinks, and/or the alcohol itself. Perhaps the ideal conditions would be for all sufferers to have access to more diagnostic testing in all these areas, but since we currently do not, it all boils down to an individual trial-and-error solution.

It would be interesting to detect and identify the odor components of someone who has all of these conditions, ALDH DEFICIENCY, TMAU and other FMO3 deficiencies, LEAKY GUT, GUT DYSBIOSIS, AND SULFITE SENSITIVITY following a significant amount of alcohol consumption, as opposed to the odor component of a person who does not have these condition under the same circumstances.