a true

Story

by Joseph Fisher, MD, PhD, Inventor


a true

Story

by Joseph Fisher, MD, PhD, Inventor


THE WEDDING PARTY

The idea of Alco-HOLD/ SOBAR was born at a festive event. As is usual, drinks were aggressively passed while everyone chit-chatted. Too crowded to fight for hors d'oeuvres, I kept drinking and soon enough, I was overly tipsy and hoping dinner would start pronto. This got me thinking...what if there were something small I could have eaten beforehand that could have helped deal with the firehose of alcohol I got hit with? It would also be great if it were low in calories, I was looking forward to eating all of the great food at the party too.

Cocktails at wedding party

books to study alcohol absorption

STARTING FROM SCRATCH

I knew from high school that eating food before drinking was smart. Was there a way to improve on that with a food designed for it? I started a research project to find out all I could about how food affected alcohol absorption. I reviewed all the biomedical literature I could find; although there was some information on the impact of eating a meal, there was nothing I could find on isolated food components, such as proteins, fibers, fats, or their combinations, or on how they might impact you when drinking.   It looked like I'd have to start from scratch on this project.


A BAR IS BORN

But where to start? Based on the published observations that slowing stomach emptying reduced the rate of alcohol absorption, I started lab research in earnest; what combination of food ingredients could efficiently slow stomach emptying? I started formulating bars and testing them...a standardized lunch, 6 hour fast, then eating the test bar (or control) followed by a defined cocktail. After much Costco vodka and thousands of puffs into a breathalyzer, Alco-HOLD and the SOBAR was born.

Stomach emptying and alcohol absorption

Alco-HOLD:  Alcohol absorption reduction technology.

EUREKA

The remarkable result of this research was that the combination of only three normal food ingredients was necessary for the effect I was seeking; this was the basis of Zeno Functional Foods' PATENT for Alco-HOLD. 


Our Founder

Joseph Fisher, MD, PhD

Dr. Fisher is the inventor of the Alco-HOLD and founder of Zeno Functional Foods located in Chicago, IL. He was trained as a medical scientist having received his BS and MS in Chemistry from Stanford University, and then his MD and PhD from the Stanford Medical School as part of the prestigious Medical Scientist Training Program. After doing a post-doctoral fellowship at the UCSF Howard Hughes Medical Institute, he worked in the biopharmaceutical industry in research, business development and strategic consulting for over 20 years. In starting Zeno, he set his sights on creating unique foods that can improve an individual's well being and lifestyle, with Alco-HOLD and SOBAR the first to come out of this effort.

Dr. Joseph Fisher MD, PhD, Reinventing the Protein Bar

THE WEDDING PARTY

The idea of Alco-HOLD / SOBAR was born at a festive event. As is usual, drinks were aggressively passed while everyone chit-chatted. Too crowded to fight for hors d'oeuvres, I kept drinking and soon enough, I was overly tipsy and hoping dinner would start pronto. This got me thinking...what if there were something small I could have eaten beforehand that could have helped deal with the firehose of alcohol I got hit with? It would also be great if it were low in calories, I was looking forward to eating all of the great food at the party too.

STARTING FROM SCRATCH

I knew from high school that eating food before drinking was smart. Was there a way to improve on that with a food designed for it? I started a research project to find out all I could about how food affected alcohol absorption. I reviewed all the biomedical literature I could find; although there was some information on the impact of eating a meal, there was nothing I could find on isolated food components, such as proteins, fibers, fats, or their combinations, or on how they might impact you when drinking.   It looked like I'd have to start from scratch on this project.

A BAR IS BORN

But where to start? Based on the published observations that slowing stomach emptying reduced the rate of alcohol absorption, I started lab research in earnest; what combination of food ingredients could efficiently slow stomach emptying? I started formulating bars and testing them...a standardized lunch, 6 hour fast, then eating the test bar (or control) followed by a defined cocktail. After much Costco vodka and thousands of puffs into a breathalyzer, Alco-HOLD and the SOBAR was born.

EUREKA

The remarkable result of this research was that the combination of only three normal food ingredients was necessary for the effect I was seeking; this was the basis of Zeno Functional Foods' PATENT for Alco-HOLD.

Alco-HOLD alcohol reduction technology.

Our Founder

Joseph Fisher, MD, PhD

Dr. Fisher is the inventor of the Alco-HOLD and founder of Zeno Functional Foods located in Chicago, IL. He was trained as a medical scientist having received his BS and MS in Chemistry from Stanford University, and then his MD and PhD from the Stanford Medical School as part of the prestigious Medical Scientist Training Program. After doing a post-doctoral fellowship at the UCSF Howard Hughes Medical Institute, he worked in the biopharmaceutical industry in research, business development and strategic consulting for over 20 years. In starting Zeno, he set his sights on creating unique foods that can improve an individual's well being and lifestyle, with SOBAR the first to come out of this effort.

WARNING

DO NOT DRINK AND DRIVE. SOBAR® DOES NOT PREVENT ALL ALCOHOL ABSORPTION AND YOU CAN STILL BECOME INTOXICATED. IF YOU ARE ALREADY INTOXICATED, SOBAR® WILL NOT SOBER YOU UP OR LOWER YOUR BLOOD ALCOHOL LEVEL. SOBAR® CAN SLOW ALCOHOL ABSORPTION AND YOU MAY EXPERIENCE A DELAYED EFFECT FROM THE ALCOHOL CONSUMED.

The SOBAR® is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
The FDA has not evaluated any statements made on this website.

Some images used were obtained from www.unsplash.com and pixabay.com and used here with permission.