Vitamin might be alternative to embarassing self-exclusion
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Sick of emailing PokerStars every 32 days to request a one-month self-exclusion because you can’t control your degenerate urges? Well, taking a pill is not only less embarrassing than making that request, it’s also quicker. Probably.
Research done at the University of Minnesota suggests that an OTC supplement can help control gambling urges. The study is tiny and preliminary, but if you’re looking for this kind of solution, you’re probably not too worried about statistical significance anyhow.
Excerpt from the article:
A University of Minnesota study found a supplement known as N-acetyl cysteine might reduce cravings in pathological gamblers by targeting glutamate, a chemical in the brain that responds to rewards.
The eight-week study by psychiatrist Jon Grant was small. It involved 23 people who took the supplement, an antioxidant sold over-the-counter for wide-ranging health problems such as bronchitis, Alzheimer’s disease and HIV.
Sixteen participants in the trial reported decreased frequency and intensity of their cravings to gamble, and fewer disruptions in their daily lives from those cravings, Grant said.
“It looks very promising,” said Grant, whose study will be published in Saturday’s issue of Biological Psychiatry.
Now if Grant could just get to work on a bio-engineered apple that would stop us from calling down with middle pair…
