[wcchandler]

I'm grateful that I learned this lesson pretty early and pretty quickly. My first time I stumbled upon morels I ate them raw, not knowing any better. Then chased it with some whiskey, thinking the alcohol would kill whatever it needed to. That combo can sometimes be deadly. I have never been so violently sick. I now heed with extreme caution when eating any mushrooms for the first time. I also tend to overcook them out of extreme caution.

[number6]

And please don't drink alcohol if you eat mushrooms

[longitudinal93]

Not directly related to this but I once was forced to deal with risks of trichynosis from undercooked bacon (long story) by drinking copious amounts of whiskey, after finding some old research which suggested the method. Bit of a hangover the next day but fine other than that.

[leobg]

Not drinking anything might work even better. Killing bacteria and parasites is what your stomach acid is there for. Doesn’t work that well if it’s diluted.

[andy99]

Why?

[buescher]

For foraged mushrooms. Alcohol can exacerbate reactions to mushroom toxins. There are particular wild mushrooms like ink caps that experts recommend you should not eat if you have had a drink within 48 hours, and you should not have a drink for 48 hours afterward.

[InSteady]

The oversimplified answer is that there are potential toxins in foraged mushrooms that your liver needs to sort out, which is going to be even more problematic if it is busy dealing with acetaldehyde from the ethanol breakdown.

Pure lay speculation, but based on the fact that humans have been deliberately ingesting lots of alcohol for millennia (and mammals have been doing intermittently for untold millions of years), the liver may preferentially break down ethanol and then acetaldehyde even when substances that are problematic/deadly in lower concentrations are present. Alcohol metabolism has been optimized for.

Interesting anecdote, methanol causes intoxication similar to alcohol and is harmful but not deadly in and of itself. However, methanol ingestion can cause blindness and death specifically because the liver breaks it down quickly into formic acid, which then circulates throughout the bloodstream. In cases of methanol poisoning, the antidote is to drink alcohol (ethanol) in sufficient quantities, since the liver preferentially breaks down the alcohol, allowing the methanol to be broken down much slower to the point that it is no longer deadly (half-life goes from 2-3 hours to 90+ hours when ethanol is present).

[kristianp]

Do you have to have an amount of alcohol every hour for 90+ hours in that case?

[rubatuga]

Conversion half life >> excretion half life