It’s no secret that alcohol isn’t good for your health – particularly when it comes to liver health.
That’s why Indian researcher Harsha Chigurupati developed a compound purported to help protect against liver and DNA damage caused by consuming alcohol – called NTX – ‘no-tox.’
In a study funded by Chigurupati, biomarkers that indicate liver damage were 93% lower for people who drank NTX-infused vodka versus people who drank regular vodka – and, later studies showed that NTX-infused vodka reduced DNA damage caused by drinking regular alcohol.
Indian researcher Harsha Chigurupati developed a compound purported to help protect against liver and DNA damage caused by consuming alcohol – called NTX – ‘no-tox’
While Chigurupati is currently battling with regulators to acknowledge the compound’s health claims, New Jersey based spirits brand Bellion already sells NTX infused vodka in bars and restaurants in 11 states, with plans for a broader roll-out in 2018.
According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, NTX’s formula contains three ingredients: potassium sorbate, a food preservative and anti-oxidant, glycyrrhizin, an anti-inflammatory derived from the licorice root, and mannitol, a diuretic that causes the body to lose water.
Human trials for NTX began in 2013, and later that year Chigurupati teamed up with Bellion, with the hope of disrupting the liquor industry with a new alcohol category labelled ‘functional spirits,’ which he trademarked, and imagined labels making claims about NTX’s reported health benefits.
However, the agency that regulates such claims in the US, the Alcohol and Tobacco ax and Trade Bureau (TTB), denied Chigurupati’s petition, despite him coming prepared with his own research and more than 100 independent articles and studies by researchers showing that the key ingredients in NTX mitigate liver damage and oxidative stress.
The TTB’s rejection was based on its concern that Americans might confused NTX with Naltrexone, which can be used to treat alcohol dependence.
Chigurupati hired lawyer Jonathan Emord in 2014 to challenge the TTB, and it allowed Bellion to use rubber rings stating ‘made with NTX’ around each bottle – however, Bellion was not allowed to say what NTX is or claims to do.
Despite conducting more researcher with other researchers to prepare a new petition for eight health claims, the TTB rejected Chigurupati again in May on the basis that ‘the proposed labeling and advertising statements create a misleading impression that consumption of alcohol beverages infused with NTX will protect consumers from certain serious health risks associated with both moderate and heavy levels of alcohol consumption.’
Harsha Chigurupati (pictured) developed NTX to help protect against alcohol-induced liver and DNA damage
The TTB claimed it could, for example, distract consumers from other health risks associated with alcohol, such as addiction and birth defects.
Liver experts, for example, Ramon Bataller, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh and a liver physician, told the Wall Street Journal that while NTX is promising, the diuretic effect of mannitol are worrying – a drug given to people with brain edema in a coma to reduce intracranial pressure.
Other liver experts say that the research is still early and doesn’t address potential long-term effects.
While Chigurupati’s lawyer works on a case based on NTX’s classification as an additive and his client’s first amendment rights, Chigurupati’s is working on producing NTX-infused tequila, gin and bourbon, with plans to release these products next year.
But what does NTX-infused vodka actually taste like?
Giuseppe González, who opened the Suffolk Arms on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, tried the vodka, which he says is ‘sweet as hell.’
Giuseppe González, who opened the Suffolk Arms on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, tried Bellion’s NTX infused vodka, which he says is ‘sweet as hell’