Emerging ingredient aims to bring the functional effects of alcohol to nonalcoholic beverages

Alcarelle is an ingredient concept that will give beverage product developers the ability to create nonalcoholic (NA) drinks that elicit a functional effect similar to conventional alcoholic drinks.

Like alcohol, Alcarelle works by enhancing the effects of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in the brain. GABA is a neurotransmitter that inhibits the nervous system’s ability to send and receive signals — thus, producing a calming effect.

Alcarelle Holdings, the company behind Alcarelle, is under the GABA Labs family of brands. GABA Labs is also the company behind SENTIA, an herb-powered non-alcoholic functional drink.

“It's the same principle as with SENTIA,” David Nutt, co-founder and chief scientific officer of GABA Labs, professor and neuropsychopharmacologist, explained. “But with Alcarelle, rather than mixing extracts from large numbers of herbs to get the effect, we're actually targeting a single small molecule effectively to replace ethanol. Instead of having ethanol inside, you will have Alcarelle inside.”

Making a molecule

Developing Alcarelle started with an exploration of existing scientific literature, which helped the team at GABA Labs to identify binding sites for various substances on the GABA receptor, called positive allosteric modulators.

“These are receptors to which small molecules bind, and then they can enhance the binding of the natural transmitter GABA,” Nutt explained. “We have explored a range of different target sites for small molecules and then done new chemistry on the most promising ones.”

That led GABA Labs to develop more than 30 synthetic molecules, which is “a very scientifically challenging thing to do,” according to Nutt.

That’s because the molecules had to fulfill three separate criteria.

The first was the “fundamental model” to enhance the effects of GABA. “But there's loads and loads of molecules that do that,” Nutt said. “What we needed was one that didn't do it so much that you would get sedated or intoxicated.” That meant inventing “a partial agonist,” a molecule with a maximum effect.

The second criterion required that the molecule be absorbed by the body and the brain quickly, which helps ensure the beverages that include Alcarelle will produce effects quickly, similar to alcohol. The third was to make sure the molecule is rapidly removed from the body.

A separate but fundamental issue was to make sure the molecule didn’t interfere with other brain systems.

Combined, “that's quite a big ask,” Nutt said. “But we've actually managed to achieve this.”

The team narrowed the portfolio of molecules to a final batch of four, which will be evaluated to determine which is best, “defined by a combination of effect and ease of synthesis,” Nutt explained.

He anticipated the team will select a molecule for production later this year. After selection and manufacture of the molecule, the next big step will be achieving GRAS (generally recognized as safe) status — a feat that will take “quite a few million dollars” and a round of funding to complete.

Completing a mission

GABA Labs is fueled by a critical mission: to give people an alternative functional drink to alcohol.

“Currently all over the globe, if people want a drink in social situations, they use alcohol,” Nutt said. “And that comes at a cost because as everyone knows, alcohol is not a harmless molecule. But people drink [alcohol] because it's useful, it's pleasant, it's enjoyable — it fulfills social needs. So we want to give people that social drink.”

While SENTIA, a functional alcohol alternative beverage created and marketed by GABA Labs’ The Social Drinks Company, has been effective in giving consumers a social alternative, “it's a drink, which means it's quite expensive to transport,” Nutt said.

“Alcarelle is very different,” he continued. “Alcarelle is an ingredient, so we will license Alcarelle to any drinks company in the world and they can put it into any nonalcoholic drink to make a drink which is equivalent to alcohol.”