COMPOSITION AND METHOD FOR REDUCING BLOOD ALCOHOL CONTENT

Abstract: A method for reducing blood alcohol content in a person by the administration of an effective amount of activated charcoal.

Description: -1- 00MPOSITI0N AND METHOD FOR REDUCING A J. BLOOD ALCOHOL ∞NTENT BACKGROUND OF THE INVEOTION This invention is concerned with a method and compositions for reducing the concentration of ethanol in the blood of persons who have been drinking. It has been found that the oral administration of activated charcoal in sufficient amounts to a person who has beεn drinking has a 5 marked effect in reducing the alcohol blood level. The use of various compounds to combat the toxic effects of alcohol is demonstrated in a number of patents. For example, B. Tabokoff in U.S. Pat. No. 4,528,295 proposes the use of methionine to reduce the blood acetaldehyde level (acetaldehyde being a harmful metabolite of alcohol 10 ingestion) by ingestion of methionine prior to i bibation of alcohol. F.N. Marshall in U.S. Pat. No. 3,860,719 claims that 2- [ (3,4-dichlorophenoxy) ethy] -2- imidazoline or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof is effective in combating ethanol intoxication in mammals when administered internally. Many other compounds have been claimed effective for this 15 purpose. It has been known that activated charcoal is an effective absorbent. "Activated Charcoal" is defined in J.E. Schmidt, "Attorney's Dictionary oi Medicine and Word Finder," VoL. 1, Matthew Bonder, New York, N.Y. 1981 as "Powdered charcoal treated in a special way, to increase its 20 P ower of absorption. It is used as an antidote in treating cases of poisoning; it is also useful, in combination with other ingredients, in the treatment of excessive acidity of the stomach, diarrhea etc. Also called 'medicinal charcoal'." Its use in medical applications is exemplified in several U.S. Patents. R. Adler in U.S. Pat. No. 1,589,081 treats a vegetable charcoal so as to remove objectionable impurities and binds the charcoal particles with a soluble binder so as to cause the product to readily disintegrate in the alimentary canal for treating "...foul breath and other unpleasant symptoms and conditions, especially of the stomach." T.J. Van der Weel, U.S. Pat No. 2,787,579 coats charcoal tablets with carboxyalkycelluloses so as to facilitate swallowing of the tablets. J. H. Geils, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,122,169.uses a combination of activated charcoal and sorbitol, a sweetener which has a laxative action, to remove undesirable, noxious substances from the gastrointestinal (G.I.) tract of humans by absorption and quick transport through the G.I. tract. However, no in vivo studies of the use of activated charcoal to counteract the effects of alcohol consumption appear to have been reported either for animals or humans. A.H. Anderson has studied the use of activated charcoal as an adsorbent for poisons extensively and reported on the results of a comparative in_ vitro study which included alcohol in 2 Acta pharmacol 69-78 (1946). The study placed alcohol next to the least adsorbed of the compounds studied and Anderson says, "As far as alcohol is concerned, its adsorption cannot be said to be slight. Still considering the adsorbability of alcohol in relation to the doses of this substance usually ingested before the question of charcoal therapy becomes topical, this treatment must be looked upon beforehand as useless in alcohol intoxication." op cit., pp. 75-76. Although there have been subsequent studies on the use of activated charcoal as an antidote for -3- poisons in vi ro and in vivo, e.g. W.J. Decker et ^ al., 13 Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology 454-460 (1968), and A.L. Picchioni, 17 Pediatric Clinics of North America (3), 535-542 (1970) for example, no studies appear to have been reported on the use of activated charcoal as a method for reducing the concentration of alcohol in the G.I. tract, in vitro or in vivo. It is clearly desirable to have a means of simply, safely and quickly reducing the alcohol concentration in the G. I. tract and in the blood of a person who has consumed sufficient alcohol to become intoxicated. We have found, unexpectedly, that oral administration of activated charcoal reduces the blood alcohol concentration of a drinking person significantly." SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, an effective method for reducing the concentration of gastrointestinal alcohol and of alcohol in the blood is by the ingestion of a sufficient amount of pharmaceutical grade activated charcoal so as to result in the adsorption of significant quantities of alcohol. The charcoal may be administered in tablet or capsule form or as a slurry, although it is expected that the use of tablets or capsules will make the treatment more generally available in locations where the consumption of alcohol takes place. The tablets may be coated so as to make them easier to swallow than uncoated tablets. Flavoring may be added to make the charcoal more palatable. Binders may be used to prevent the disintegration of the tablets in the esophagus. The addition of coatings, binders or flavoring must be done so as to avoid any substantial reduction in the adsorptive capacity of the activated charcoal. -4. DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS OF THE PRITERRED EMBODIMENΓS The charcoal to be used for the purpose of this invention must be of pharmaceutical grade, meaning originating from animal or vegetable sources and having a high enough surface area so as not to require the ingestion of substantially excessive quantities of charcoal. In a paper presented to the National Conference on Alcohol and Traffic Safety in 1961 and published in Alcohol and Safety Traffic by the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare (Public Health Service Publication #1043), Kurt M. Dubowski reported a study of 922 men involved in traffic offenses in which the rate of diminution of alcohol blood content was found to vary from 0.006 to 0.04 percent per hour. The generally accepted average rate of diminution of our blood alcohol content is 0.015Z per hour. See Erwin, R.E., Defense of Drunk Driving Cases, 3rd Ed., Matthew Bender, New York, N.Y. , p 15-7. The ingestion of a sufficient amount of activated charcoal to just cause the rate of blood alcohol diminution to be greater than the rate of blood alcohol diminution in the absence of activated charcoal ingestion is at the outer limits of efficacy. A preferred increase in the rate of diminution is at least 0.005Z per hour greater than the normal or ingestion free rate of the person ingesting the activated charcoal. Expressed alternately on the average, a minimal does of activated charcoal will result in a rate of blood alcohol diminution of at least 0.02% per hour. The ingestion of activated charcoal resulting in a rate of blood alcohol diminution of greater than about 0.04% per hour is preferred because this value appears to exceed the highest unaided rate of diminution. Increasing doses of activated charcoal will both increase the rate of diminution of blood alcohol content and extend the period of effectiveness. Any form of activated charcoal which can be tolerated by the individual may be used but tablets or capsules are especially convenient although aqueous slurries may also be used. Treatment may be prior to, simultaneous or following alcohol ingestion. Flavors may be used to make the charcoal more palatable, but it is important to avoid adding potential adsorbates which will reduce the surface area and effectiveness of the activated charcoal. In the following examples, the instrument which was used to arrive at the blood alcohol content was a breath measuring device called the "Breath Alcohol Test Instrument SX3A" manufactured by Sirchie Finger Print Labs of Raleigh, N.C. The instrument was calibrated by the manufacturer prior to the conduct of the majority of the tests. Periodically the Sirchie instrument was checked against the "Blood Level Monitor CXG 212" distributed by the Hannamax Corp., Chicago, IL. The alcohol concentrations given represent an average of three readings taken within several minutes of each other. EXAMPLE 1 A 90.7 kg male, ingested about 177 ml of 100 proof vodka within five minutes of time zero. At sixty minutes, the subject swallowed a capsule containing about 260 mg. of Activated Charcoal U.S.P. which had an average particle size of 0.1 micron as measured by a Coulter counter. The results are shown in Table I, Column 1. Between 60 and 80 minutes, the rate of diminution of blood alcohol content was about 0.056Z per hour falling to an average of about 0.042 per hour thereafter. EXAMPLE 2 A 97.5 kg male, ingested 118 ml of 100 proof vodka three hours after his last meal in two trials, A and B. Forty minutes into each trial, the subject swallowed two capsules containing about 260 mg each of Activated Charcoal U.S.P. having an average particle diameter of about 0.1 micron as measured by Coulter counter. The results are shown in Table I, columns 2A and 2B. The greatest rate of diminution of blood alcohol content for 2A is about 0.1612 per hour and the average slope thereafter is about 0.0662 per hour. For 2B, the greatest rate of blood alcohol diminution is about 0.0842 per hour and the average thereafter is about 0.0642 per hour. EXAMPUE 3 A 77 kg male, drank 177 ml of 100 proof vodka on an "empty" stomach approximately at time zero. At forty minutes, the subject swallowed four capsules containing about 260 mg each of Activated Charcoal U.S.P. having an average particle diameter of about 0.1 micron as measured by Coulter counter. The results are shown in Table I, column 3. The resulting average rate of blood alcohol diminution is about 0.1572 per hour. EXAMPLE 4 A 95.3 kg male, drank 177 ml of 100 proof vodka on an empty stomach approximately at time zero. At forty minutes, the subject swallowed four capsules containing about 260 mg each of Activated Charcoal U.S.P. having an average particle diameter of about 0.1 micron as measured by Coulter counter. The results are shown in Table I, column 4. The resulting average rate of blood alcohol diminution is about 0.1552 per hour. -7- EXAMPLE 5 An 86.2 kg male, drank 177 ml of 100 proof vodka approximately at time zero. The subject did not swallow any activated charcoal. The alcohol content results are shown in Table I, column 5. In this example the alcohol content appears to plateau before dropping and reaches an average slope of about 0.0392 per hour. TABLE I Time Alcohol Content 2 Mins 1 2A 2B 3 4 5 20 0.10 30 *•» 0.13 .0.15 0.12 40 0.10 0.11 0.08 0.13 0.14 0.14 50 0.07 0.07 0.10 0.10 0.12 60 0.09 0.05 0.08 0.09 0.13 70 0.04 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.13 80 0.07 0.02 0.04 0.12 90 0.02 0.01 0.03 0.09 100 0.06 0.01 0.03 0.08 no 0.03 0.01 0.01 0.02 0.09 120 0.05 0.02 0.08 140 0.04 160 0.03 180 0.02

Claims: What is claimed is: 1. A method for reducing the concentration of alcohol in the blood resulting from its ingestion by administering to the ingesting person an effective amount of activated charcoal. 5 2. The method in accordance with Claim 1 wherein the effective administered amount of activated charcoal is at least enough to increase the rate of blood alcohol diminution by about 0.005 percent per hour more than the rate of blood alcohol diminution in the absence of the administration of activated charcoal. ° 3. Tne method in accordance with Claim 1 wherein an effective administered amount of activated charcoal is at least enough to result in an average rate of blood alcohol diminution of greater than about 0.04 percent per hour. 4. A composition for reducing the concentration of alcohol in the 5 blood resulting from its ingestion which comprises activated charcoal. 5. The composition of Claim 4 wherein the activated charcoal has an average particle diameter of about 0.1 micron or less. 6. The composition of Claim 4 wherein the activated charcoal is contained in a capsule. 7. The composition of Claim 4 wherein the activated charcoal is in the form of a tablet. 8. The composition of Claim 4 wherein the activated charcoal is in the form of an aqueous slurry.

Inventors: MARGOLIN ELY, MARGOLIN, ELY
Applicants: MARGOLIN ELY, MARGOLIN, ELY
Application year: 1987
Main classification: A61K33
IPC codes: A61K33