Effects of congener and noncongener alcoholic beverages on a clinical ataxia test battery.

Maturation of Whisky Changes Ethanol Elimination Kinetics and Neural Effects by Increasing Nonvolatile Congeners

“…Haggard et al (1943) observed higher levels of blood ethanol with an intake of commercial spirits than with purified alcohol solutions and commented that congeners might depress alcohol metabolism to modify alcohol toxicity. However, several investigators reported no significant difference in blood levels of ethanol following an intake of either bourbon whisky or vodka, although the former contains almost 100 times more congeners than the latter (Blum et al, 1970;Murphree et al, 1967;Schroeder and Collins, 1979).…”

“…As to the neuropharmacological effects of congeners, some suggested that bourbon produced stronger unpleasant after-effects than vodka (Blum et al, 1970;Brusch et al, 1955;Damrau and Liddy, 1960;Ryback and Dowd, 1970), whereas some commented that the amount of congeners in bourbon whisky did not affect alcoholic drunkenness (Johannsen and Purchase, 1969;Murphree et al, 1967;Purchase, 1969;Schroeder and Collins, 1979). Thus, it remains controversial whether the congeners of distilled spirits modify the pharmacokinetics and neuropharmacological effects of ethanol.…”

Effects of Fusel Oil on Animal Hangover Models

“…In an acute toxicity test or 56-week repeated-dose toxicity test with rats, it has been shown that there are no such toxic effects related to fusel oil at the concentrations normally found in alcoholic beverages (Johannsen and Purchase, 1969;Purchase, 1969). Furthermore, it has been reported that drinking whisky, containing a lot of fusel oil, or vodka, containing less fusel oil, produced no difference in blood alcohol level or ataxia test battery (Schroeder and Collins, 1979). Thus, it is difficult to conclude that the relationship between fusel oil and hangover has been elucidated scientifically .…”