Taming Alcohol's Dark Side | Brooks Powell | TEDxPrincetonU

Comments · 47

• WI

  @williampaterson4333 · 7 years ago (edited)

  There is ONLY one way to combat the utter &quot;Madness&quot; of alcoholism <br>DON&apos;T drink it in ANY shape or form and you might just save your sanity, marriage and YOUR life !!!!!!!!!

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• TH

  @these510 · 7 years ago

  I am a recovering alcoholic with fifteen years of sobriety. &nbsp;This person really started to smell within three minutes of his speech. &nbsp;I see and hear a lot of misinformed speakers at some of these TED talks. &nbsp;Listen carefully and remember there is a stop button. &nbsp;Time is too valuable to &nbsp;listen to someone who loves to hear himself talk.

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• BR

  @brookspowell8989 · 3 years ago

  Hey All, <br><br>I recently came across this TEDx talk that I did in college and was blown away to see how much attention it has gotten. A lot of college TEDx talks get no engagement at all, so it’s cool to see that this generated some thoughts. I spent time reading through the comments—many of which are critical. This doesn’t surprise me, as this is a VERY interesting and polarizing subject matter. <br><br>It appears there are 3 main criticisms of this talk: <br>1) It references a for-profit business / product.<br>2) It’s more philosophical than scientific. <br>3) It claims that there may be a novel treatment for alcohol addiction. <br><br>Before addressing these criticisms, I will first say that I gave this talk while I was an undergraduate in college. For most people, the journey of life is a long one. I was learning then, and I am still learning now. I have learned a lot in the years since this talk was given and who knows what I will learn over the coming decades—if I get so lucky as to stay in the land of the living! Looking back on this talk, there are a few things I would change—I’d make it shorter, I’d button my top shirt button, I’d invest in better face wash, I’d make less forced jokes and be more myself, and I wouldn’t reference my company or its products. But, unfortunately, one cannot change the past!<br><br>Other than that, it’s a valid talk. Why wouldn’t we as society try to reduce the negative effects of alcohol? That is a very interesting topic—both philosophically and scientifically. <br><br>Responding to critiques: <br>1) There seems to be a misunderstanding how TEDx talks work. Speakers do not invite themselves to give a talk of their wishes, but rather the organizers of an event invite you to speak on a topic, and then collaborate with you on the subject matter of that talk. At that time in my life, I was known around Princeton’s campus for founding a company named “Thrive+” (now known as Cheers) which was commercializing the then promising DHM molecule, hence why Thrive+ was included in the talk. (In hindsight, I should have pushed back on this. But frankly, I was just excited to be invited to speak!)<br><br>For a number of years, I was one of the faces for Princeton’s budding entrepreneurial ecosystem. I was among the first class of students to get an “Entrepreneurship Certificate”—which is the Princeton equivalent of a minor. And then I later won the inaugural “Tiger Entrepreneurship Award”, which is described by Princeton as: “a new, prestigious award designed to celebrate the value of entrepreneurship and innovation across the Princeton community and to emphasize the University’s commitment to Entrepreneurship the Princeton Way.” Why do I say this? Not to brag, but to explain that I was invited by the organizers because of my work on Cheers, not in spite of it. In that talk I served the role of being a representation of Princeton’s entrepreneurial community. This may not make sense devoid of context on YouTube years later, but it made sense in April 2016 to that audience sitting in one of Princeton’s lecture halls. <br><br>2. I was a religion major. The bulk of my studies centered on Christian ethics. My junior year I had written a 100 page paper titled: “A Biblical Theology of Man’s Relationship to Matter: Using Alcohol as a Case Study Within The Biblical Narrative.” The question about the use of DHM is as philosophical as it is scientific. A lot of the subject matter of that paper found its way into this talk. <br><br>For example, consider the atomic bomb—we spent a lot of timing figuring out if we COULD make it, and a lot less time asking ourselves if we SHOULD make it. We must ask the same question with DHM. If DHM works, should we use it in society? This talk was in part answering that question, hence the title “Taming Alcohol’s Dark Side” and the focus on philosophical thinkers such as Ayn Rand. <br><br>I see here a few people criticizing my use of the phrase “relationship with alcohol”—because many people see alcohol usage as all or nothing. This is a misunderstanding of terms, as relationships can be either positive or negative, not just positive. I also see someone dogging this talk for not being scientific enough. All I can say is that when it comes to giving 10-20 minute talks… there is a lot of cutting you have to do and you can’t please everyone. I was trying to blend the philosophical with the scientific and I understand how that could be unsatisfying to someone who just wants to hear about the science. Please note, I see nothing wrong with AA, or abstinence, or Jesus. These are all valid ways of dealing with alcohol. In this talk I was simply proposing the idea of how DHM could be used as a tool to help tame alcohol among people who do not wish to use other methods. There is not a one-size-fits-all way of dealing with alcohol and its addictive properties. <br><br>3. This isn’t the place to give a treatise on a decade of DHM research. But let me give a few statistics. In 2016, Google Scholar results yield 431 academic articles on “dihydromyricetin” published that year. So far in 2022, there have been 1340 articles published already. From the time I gave this TEDx talk in 2016 to now, there have been about 6k new academic articles on DHM published. The alcohol related properties of DHM continue to be studied and continue to yield promising results. <br><br>As I type, there are ongoing clinical trials going on for the use of DHM here in the US for various diseases. In regards to my own work with DHM, I myself have continued to move the DHM ball forward through my company Cheers. We have 5 patent families on the use of DHM, one which combines DHM with cysteine for the use of reducing alcohol’s negative health effects in humans. And 4 of which were invented in collaboration with Princeton University through sponsored research agreements (SRAs) as co-inventors for the purpose of overcoming DHM’s inherent bioavailability limitations. We have a number of PhDs and professors on our team. In fact, for a number of years we even consulted with a famous alcohol addiction specialist about how to make Cheers a positive force in society both in its use cases and branding. Since this talk, Cheers has raised $4m in funding, aired on the season finale of Shark Tank season 9, sold over 20m doses, and starting next year will be sold in major retailers across the US near the alcohol aisles. <br><br>DHM isn’t a magic bullet in the fight against alcohol addiction. It won&apos;t be the end-all-be-all. But study after study so far has shown that reducing hangovers leads to less drinking the next day. Why? It’s counter intuitive, but if you have less of a hangover, you have less need to reach for the bottle the next day to “cure” that hangover through the “hair of the dog”—which just starts the process all over again and gets worse each time. I compare treating a hangover with more alcohol to paying off your bills using a credit card. Not only do you have to pay the principle at some point, but you&apos;re going to have to pay it off with a whole lot of painful interest! Don&apos;t let withdrawal snowball into worse withdrawal in the future by putting it off. Your best bet is to get through the hangover NOW and WITHOUT having more alcohol. Don&apos;t put it off. DHM and other methods to reduce hangovers help with this strategy. (Consult a doctor if you&apos;re a long-time heavy drinker looking to quit, as abrupt cessation of alcohol consumption after many years of abuse can lead to life threatening withdrawal.)<br><br>Unlike drugs such as Disulfiram, which are designed to make hangovers worse and have largely been considered a failure (people still continue to drink despite these increased hangover effects... and potentially because of them), it appears that lessening hangovers through withdrawal reduction is a more effective means of combatting the risk of binge drinking becoming alcohol dependence. In the original “Dihydromyricetin as a Novel Anti-Intoxication Medications” author’s own words: “In summary, we determined DHM anti-alcoholic effects on animal models and determined a major molecular target and cellular mechanism of DHM for counteracting alcohol intoxication and dependence. We demonstrated pharmacological properties of DHM consistent with those expected to underlie successful medical treatment of AUDs (Alcohol Use Disorders); therefore DHM is a therapeutic candidate.” These conclusions still remain true today with each new study and I suspect they will continue to remain true as we continue to learn more about DHM and alcohol addiction. <br><br>The above doesn’t address all of the comments here, or will be commented here, but hopefully it helps give some context for the subject matter of this talk during the spring of 2016. And hopefully it helps serve as an update about what has happened with DHM research over the past 6 years! <br><br>“Cheers”, 
<br>Brooks Powell<br><br>(Ps: I won’t be checking replies or comments or anything. So if you reply, please don’t expect me to see it and reply!)

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• TE

  @teddyl7006 · 8 years ago

  A ted infomercial.

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• FL

  @floyd9578 · 8 years ago

  This is a 19 minute pitch for his product.

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• TO

  @todddorfman3736 · 6 years ago

  i&apos;m a recovered alcoholic, so for me abstinence is the only way to stay that way. &nbsp;BUT for problem drinkers not yet addicted, no more than 3 drinks a day, no matter what. &nbsp;in fact for regular people, no more than 3 a day. &nbsp;Science tells us this

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• EN

  @encouragesolutions2595 · 8 years ago

  Sales pitch for his product. The revenue generated in tax duty for alcohol is huge so it is not in the interests of some governments to cure alcoholism/sales of alcohol. I&apos;m sure this product is a watered down version which may reduce a hangover slightly. A cure for alcoholism / addictive drinking would be a multi-billion dollar earner if permitted. No such product is on the market or rather, allowed on the market. The point that he misses/ignores is that long periods of alcoholism damages health and this drug is almost a &quot;permission to drink heavily&quot; drug as it is an antidote not a permanent cure.

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• PY

  @pyroslavx7922 · 8 years ago

  The only way to have alcohol under control is the use of gas pedal, if you run your engine on ethanol ;-)

• SP

  @specialkaran · 5 years ago

  I appreciate the research but when did ted talks become adverts for products? is this the level they&apos;ve sunk to?

• JO

  @johnkuthe1 · 3 years ago

  My Ex&apos;s father is an acholic, but I gave up alcohol easily. :-)

• AN

  @anttyzale5455 · 5 years ago

  An alcoholic can take it or leave it, so he takes it.

• KC

  @kcolbinyar · 5 years ago

  Too many TEDx talks now appear to be a sales pitch. Some interesting material, although overall, not really the content I was hoping for.

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