Alcohol Poisoning from a Mushroom? The sometimes edible inky cap

Alcohol Inky Cap Mushroom

Migraine, nausea, vomiting, fatigue, and sweating all number in the disclaimers associated with a night of overzealous drinking. The hangover is the woe of the morning after. Most drinkers expect this discomfort depending on how much they drank and how long ago they drank it. With excess comes a more acute case of the katzenjammer, and with extreme excess comes alcohol poisoning. Nobody questions how they have arrived at a hangover except rhetorically; we can always blame it on the booze. 

Scientists and doctors were not satisfied with this explanation, so they looked into the matter more molecularly. Their discoveries suggest that a hangover is the result of the depletion of certain bodily resources, especially water, and the irksome presence of chemicals that emerge in the metabolization of ethanol. The most noisome of these chemicals is called acetaldehyde and is the first to develop in the liver as the body slowly metabolizes alcohol. Our hangovers eventually subside as liver cells use the enzyme aldehyde dehydrogenase to break down acetaldehyde into acetate. 

The longer we have the chemicals in our body, the longer the symptoms of a hangover last. So what happens when the body can’t get rid of the nasty acetaldehyde? Perpetual hangover, or alcohol poisoning. This may seem a drunken fever dream, but it is also reality. There are certain mushrooms that are edible to the tee-totaler, but induce immediate alcohol poisoning to anyone who drinks. 

A cluster of common inky caps growing on rotting wood
A cluster of common inky caps growing on rotting wood from Bernard Spragg. NZ from Christchurch, New Zealand, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Meet Coprinopsis atramentaria! His friends call him the common inky cap and his enemies know him as tippler’s bane. This mushroom, common to all of North America, enjoys rotting and decayed wood and can be spotted from late spring through early autumn. The inky cap grows in clusters and has a small, gray, egg-shaped cap and black gills underneath. As the mushroom ages, it quickly turns black and melts into a puddle in order to spread its spores and reproduce. It is this gooey process that has earned the mushroom both its common and scientific name atramentaria (ink in Latin is atramentum). The liquified mushroom has even been used for its named purpose as well, writing. 

This neighborhood mushroom is nearly always edible in small quantities, and its grassland cousin, the shaggy ink cap, is popular amongst food-motivated mycologists. But the inky cap is also known as the alcohol inky as a warning to those who chase it with a draught of beer. 

Coprinopsis atramentaria gets its genus name from the chemical coprine. In the body, coprine acts as an inhibitor of acetaldehyde dehydrogenase, meaning the body cannot get rid of hangover-inducing chemicals. When acetaldehyde builds up due to the presence of coprine, the unlucky drinker will experience headache, facial flush, fluttering heartbeat, shortness of breath, chest-tightness, and weakness. Drinking alcohol for days before or after eating an inky cap can cause this “Coprinus syndrome,” essentially an immediate onslaught of alcohol poisoning. 

 

Alcohol Mushroom

Caveat potator! While the mingling of fungus and booze is not necessarily deadly, this mushroom will ruin any glass of wine you drink. For this reason, inky caps and coprine have been subject to the experiments of addiction specialists. The unpleasantness of acetaldehyde is a great deterrent for alcoholics. 

Researches have shown that coprine significantly decreases alcohol consumption in rats. For humans, disulfiram is a clinical treatment for alcoholism that acts in the same way as coprine, by stopping the metabolization of acetaldehyde. These treatments were inspired by nature, as scientists observed curious mushroom poisonings and the unique reaction Asian peoples can have to booze. Researchers estimate that 50% of the population with Asiatic genes lack the enzyme needed to digest ethanol completely. For this reason, they get flush in the face and experience mild alcohol poisoning more quickly. This genetic mutation shares its mechanism with the inky cap, as both interfere with alcohol metabolization in the same way, and cause similar discomfort. 

 

Disulfiram and Coprine interfere with Ethanol
Depiction of how Disulfiram and Coprine interfere with Ethanol processing in the body from EBM Consult, https://www.ebmconsult.com/articles/disulfiram-antabuse-alcohol-ethanol-mechanism-interaction.

While coprine treatment is too harsh for actual clinical use, it certainly is a deterrent to the thirsty mushroom hunter. Inky caps carry the burden of infamy, but they are not alone. Other mushrooms will have a similar impact on drinkers, but may use different chemicals or mechanisms to achieve it. Other mushrooms the drinker should stay away from include the lurid bolete (Suillellus luridus), the wrinkled thimble-cap (Verpa bohemica), the club-footed clitocybe (Ampulloclitocybe clavipes), the shaggy scalycap (Pholiota squarrosa), the edible yellow trich (Tricholoma flavovirens), the freckled dapperling (Lepiota Aspera) and, of course, all of the inky caps of the Coprinus variety (list from Haberl).

There is already risk in scavenging wild mushrooms. Some induce salivation, others induce hallucination, and still others will shut down a liver within a day. Inky caps and other mushrooms that interact with ethanol and its derivatives in the body only complicate the world of mycology. Fans of fungi must be wary of the poisonous mushrooms, drinkers who fancy fungi must be even more wary. 

The inky cap is benign. When young, it is edible. When aging, it can be used as ink. Just don’t pair it with your favorite wine. 

 

Mushroom in a bottle

Sources Cited

“Alcohol Inky.” Missouri Department of Conservation, https://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/alcohol-inky.

Haberl, Bettina, et al. “Case Series: Alcohol Intolerance with Coprine-like Syndrome after Consumption of the Mushroom Lepiota Aspera (Pers.:Fr.) Quéél., 1886 (Freckled Dapperling).” Clinical Toxicology (15563650), vol. 49, no. 2, Feb. 2011, pp. 113–114. EBSCOhost, doi:10.3109/15563650.2011.554840.

“How Does Disulfiram (Antabuse) Interact with Alcohol (Ethanol) to Cause Patients to Get so Sick?” EBM Consult, https://www.ebmconsult.com/articles/disulfiram-antabuse-alcohol-ethanol-mechanism-interaction.

Inglis-Arkell, Esther. “The Mushroom That’s Only Poisonous If You’re Also Drinking.” Gizmodo, Gizmodo, 16 Dec. 2015, https://gizmodo.com/the-mushroom-thats-only-poisonous-if-youre-also-drink-456137041.

“Mushroom of the Week: Inky Caps.” Scienceline, 3 Nov. 2012, https://scienceline.org/2012/10/mushroom-of-the-week-inky-caps/.

Nagasawa, H T et al. “Latent inhibitors of aldehyde dehydrogenase as alcohol deterrent agents.” Journal of medicinal chemistry vol. 27,10 (1984): 1335-9. doi:10.1021/jm00376a019

Sinclair, J. D., et al. “Aldehyde Dehydrogenase Inhibitors and Voluntary Ethanol Drinking by Rats.” Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol. 132, 1980, pp. 481–487. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1007/978-1-4757-1419-7_49.

Radford, A. P. “Ink Caps And Mushrooms.” The British Medical Journal, vol. 1, no. 6105, BMJ, 1978, pp. 112–112, http://www.jstor.org/stable/20417435.

Woodland Trust. “Common Inkcap.” Woodland Trust, https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/fungi-and-lichens/common-inkcap/.

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