Rats And Beer: Is It Safe For Rats To Drink?

Rats and alcohol have a long history, with alcohol being a part of shaping America and other cultures worldwide. Rats, too, have a relationship with alcohol, although it is often forced upon them by humans in laboratory settings. Rats have been observed to drink beer, and in some cases, it is consumed in large quantities. Rats don't experience hangovers like humans, but they do exhibit signs of withdrawal and can become alcoholics. They also display reduced social interaction and increased anxiety after consuming beer. Interestingly, studies have shown that alcohol can have some benefits for rats, such as preventing Alzheimer's and improving memory. However, it is essential to note that rats can spread diseases and contaminate food, so it is not advisable to intentionally provide them with alcoholic beverages.

Rats don't suffer from hangovers

In one experiment, male Wistar rats were given 30 minutes of access to "near-beer" each day, a malt beverage that looks and tastes like beer but contains less than 0.5% ethanol. On the test day, ethanol was added to the near-beer to make it resemble standard beer, and the rats were then tested on their response to a predatory cue and on an accelerating rotarod. The rats drinking the beer approached a predatory cue more often, indicating an anxiolytic effect. They also displayed less anxiety-like behaviour in the elevated plus maze and emergence tests, but this was not the case in the social interaction test. Rats given beer fell off the rotarod faster, indicating an ataxic effect.

Another experiment gave rats continuous cage access to either beer or near-beer for 35 days. Half of the rats were then denied access for 24 hours and then tested on the same anxiety test battery. The rats denied access to beer showed less social interaction and took longer to emerge into an open field. These results indicate that rats will consume beer at levels that produce clear effects on anxiety and motor coordination and that they will eventually produce behavioural signs of withdrawal.

While rats may not suffer from hangovers in the same way humans do, it is important to note that they can still experience negative consequences from consuming alcohol. Rats have been observed to display withdrawal symptoms when access to alcohol is cut off, and they may also become dependent on alcohol if regularly exposed to it.

It takes 900+ genes to make a rat an alcoholic

Rats are known to be heavy drinkers, and their drinking habits have been the subject of many scientific studies. Rats don't suffer from hangovers, and a 2012 study by researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, found that dihydromyricetin can quickly clear their hangover symptoms. Rats also don't have to worry about getting beer bloat—despite a popular belief that they can't burp and will die from a gas attack, there are no reports of rats dying from drinking beer. In fact, beer has been shown to have some health benefits for rats, such as preventing Alzheimer's and improving memory.

But how much beer is too much for a rat? It turns out that it takes more than 900 genes to make a rat an alcoholic. The Indiana Alcohol Research Center found 930 genes that contribute to making a rat dependent on alcohol. To figure this out, researchers used a strain of rats that was force-fed alcohol until they liked it and compared them to a strain of teetotaling rats. The drunkard strain was more likely to drink to stay drunk, experience withdrawals, and complete work tasks for alcohol.

So, while rats may enjoy the occasional tipple, it seems that it takes a complex combination of genetic factors to turn them into full-blown alcoholics.

Rats drink when stressed

Rats are social creatures and, like humans, they can experience stress. They can show symptoms of stress, such as abnormal breathing, changes in grooming habits, eye problems, motor control changes, lack of alertness, hyperactivity, changes in waste production, and more.

German researchers found that alcohol-dependent rats, when deprived of alcohol and subjected to stress tests, exhibited a strong desire to drink. The rats were kept from drinking for three days and were placed in cold water and given electric shocks. After the three days of what the article calls "Guantanamo-level torture", the alcoholic rats showed a strong desire for alcohol.

Rats can become stressed in a variety of ways, and their symptoms can vary. Some common causes of stress in rats include illness and injury, temperature extremes, changes in diet, loud noises, overcrowding, bullying, pregnancy, reaching sexual maturity, and isolation.

Helping a rat manage stress is often straightforward. The easiest thing to do is to eliminate the source of stress. For example, if a rat is stressed by high levels of street noise, moving their cage to a quieter room can help. If a rat is feeling isolated, introducing them to other rats can help alleviate their stress.

Beer has acute anxiolytic and ataxic effects on rats

Rats will happily drink beer, and a 2003 study by Jason E Gallate et al. was the first to show that beer consumption in rats has acute anxiolytic and ataxic effects. The study, conducted by the Department of Psychology at the University of Sydney, examined the effects of beer consumption in male Wistar rats.

In the study, rats were given 30 minutes of access to "near-beer" each day—a malt beverage that looks and tastes like beer but contains less than 0.5% ethanol. On the test day, ethanol was added to the near-beer to make it resemble standard beer, and the rats were then tested on their response to a predatory cue and on an accelerating rotarod.

The results showed that rats drinking 4.5% beer approached a predatory cue significantly more than those given near-beer, indicating an anxiolytic effect. In a second experiment, rats drinking 4.5% beer displayed less anxiety-like behaviour in the elevated plus maze and emergence tests but not in the social interaction test.

Rats given 4.5% beer fell off the rotarod significantly faster than rats given near-beer, indicating an ataxic effect. This means that the beer consumption had a clear effect on the rats' motor coordination. The study also found that rats denied access to 4.5% beer showed significantly less social interaction and took longer to emerge into an open field than controls, suggesting behavioural signs of withdrawal.

Overall, the study provided valuable insights into the acute anxiolytic and ataxic effects of beer consumption in rats, as well as the potential for behavioural signs of withdrawal with prolonged access.

Rats can't burp

Rats cannot burp, and they also cannot vomit. This is due to a combination of physical and neurological factors. Firstly, rats have a powerful barrier between the stomach and the oesophagus, and they lack the necessary oesophageal muscle strength to force this open and induce vomiting. Secondly, rats cannot dissociate the activity of the two muscles of the diaphragm, which must contract independently for vomiting and burping to occur. Finally, rats lack the complex neural connections within the brain stem and between the brain stem and viscera that are required to coordinate the many muscles involved in burping.

The inability to burp or vomit means that rats cannot expel gas through their mouths. However, this does not mean that they cannot expel gas at all. Rats can still pass gas through their backsides, and they do so for the same reasons as humans: a poor diet, or food that is too high in fibre, sulphur, or fat.

It is a common belief that rats can be killed by leaving out trays of beer for them to drink. The idea is that because rats cannot burp, they will die of a gas attack. This is a myth. While it is true that rats cannot burp, they are still able to expel gas in other ways, and there are scientific reports of rats consuming considerable amounts of beer without dying.

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