UCD project: Irish scientists are working on the ultimate drink product, which may soon lead to drinkers being able to enjoy their alcohol and a hangover cure at the same time.
The project, which began at University College Dublin earlier this year, will focus on developing beverages containing suspensions of micro-encapsulated pharmacologically active ingredients. It will focus on over-the-counter (OTC) products such as remedies for headaches, pain relief, flu and hangovers, according to a statement from Relay, which distributes information on food industry research.
Explaining the background, it said the borders between the food and pharmaceutical industries were increasingly permeable: "Some food companies have diversified to functional ingredients and from there to food supplements, nutritional supplements and vitamins," it said.
Many of these products are, however, produced by pharmaceutical companies - the most famous case being Lucozade, the best-selling energy drink worldwide, which is produced by SmithKline Beecham.
It said that probiotic products traditionally marketed by food companies were also sold as pills and capsules. It quoted one of the team as saying that the market for OTC products in Ireland was about 20 per cent of the total pharmaceutical market. There was no reason, said the statement, the food industry could not expand its product portfolio and distribution towards health-related business, adding health-promoting products with added active pharmacological ingredients.
"The researchers at UCD propose developing drinks with the pleasantness associated with drinks carrying pharmaceutical ingredients," it added.It is not known when the research will bring its first food and drinks products to the market stage.