The combination of l-theanine and alcohol drinks mixed together is an interesting one. Why are people mixing these two substances together? ​There has been research done on mice to look at the effect of this mix. The results were that it prevented liver problems and there was a decrease in the amount of alcohol in the blood. The nice thing about this is that it is not only limited to mice, this will also works for humans. First I got to say I firmly believe that you should always drink with moderation. And that people of Asian descent might get a different outcome. This because of the way their livers handles alcohol differently, also known as the Asian glow.

So to start. There are a lot of questions on forum sites, like can I drink more, does mixing-l-theanine and alcohol makes it healthy, is this the hangover solution, how much should I dosage, and use l-theanine before, during, or after drinking? Well we should first see what alcohol does to the body and after that we can explain how theanine will react to that.

How does the body reacts to alcohol

​Liver Small quantity of alcohol makes us more relaxed and less anxious. Overconsumption results into loss of coordination, slurred speech and confusion in normal terms your drunk when you do these things. ​The inside of our body reacts totally different. After the very first drip of alcohol if goes from the small intestine into the veins. From the veins the alcohol goes straight to your liver. The reason alcohol goes to the liver is because this is the detox machine of the human body. The liver convert's alcohol into an organic chemical compound called acetaldehyde, which is toxic. In sequences the acetaldehyde is broken down into the nontoxic acetate. After that the acetate is broken down into carbon dioxide and water, which will leave the body the normal way. ​Your liver can only do this process with 1 alcoholic drink an hour. The rest of the alcohol will remain in your blood. Chronologically drinking too much puts your liver on too much stress. This will result into alcoholic steatohepatitis, or other ﻿liver failure symptoms.

​Free Radicals

One thing most people don’t know is that alcohol increases the amount of free radicals in our body. What are free radicals and what do they do?

Very good question. A free radical is a molecule with an unstable amount of electrons. What it will do to become stable is attacking stable molecules to get their electron. Resulting in others turning into free radicals. From there it becomes very easy to start a chain reaction of millions of molecules turning into free radicals.

This is turning molecules into free radicals has the name of oxidative stress. And it is atrocious! Oxidative stress is linked to

Arthritis

Premature aging

Edema Artery hardening

Cancer susceptibility

​Hangover

There is also the day after. Waking up with a dry mouth. You feel fatigue and sweaty and you try your hardest to think or focus but it isn’t working. This is the hangover we get after a night of drinking too much.

Other symptoms of a hangover are drowsiness, gastrointestinal, absence of hunger nausea and anxiety. It sucks. It takes around 24 hours to get over a hangover. It wouldn’t be a great idea to drink a lot if you have school or work the next day. There are some urban myths like a cold shower or eating fast food will cure your hang over faster.​

What will mixing l-theanine and alcohol do?

Well let’s summarize the bad things alcohol does and the most asked questions we have about this topic. We know chronologically drinking alcohol puts your liver under a lot of stress. This could lead to a damaged liver meaning your body cannot filter toxins anymore. Without a filter you are stuck with a strict diet for the rest of your life.

Drinking increases the amount of free radicals in the body. Having a lot of free radicals has been linked with premature aging, artery hardening, Cancer susceptibility and a lot more. Also a lot of people have the questions can I drink more if I take l-theanine or does this prevent a hangover?

Boosting alcohol digestion

It turns out that researchers have found that L-theanine reduces the harmful impact of alcohol in the liver where alcohol is converted to extremely toxic chemical referred to as acetaldehyde. L-theanine helps to boost the digestion of acetaldehyde and to block the harmful free radicals. It will increase the ranges of glutathione which is normally depleted by means of the consumption of alcohol and restore the detoxifying ability of the liver.

So from this we can say that l-theanine helps the liver digesting alcohol, thus preventing a lot of stress on the liver. And l-theanine is an antioxidant. Which may seem like a big word, but putting it plain simple a antioxidant is a substance that prevents oxidation (the process triggered by free radicals). It does this by simply giving an electron to the free radical so it won’t have to attack other molecules.