Former government drugs adviser Professor David Nutt launched a “joy-invoking” new non-alcoholic drink designed to enhance human connection at an event on Thursday night.
Professor Nutt, who has spent 20 years working to create an alcohol-free drink which can replicate some of the feelings of alcohol, hosted the launch at Pushkin House in Bloomsbury Square.
Among the guests was Busted star Matt Willis.
The drink, Sentia Gaba Gold, is designed to enhance the neurotransmitter Gaba in the brain, which like alcohol causes feelings of relaxation and calmness and can enhance a sense of ease in social situations.
It includes orange, lemongrass, hops, chamomile and ginger as well as schisandra which is known to enhance Gaba, lift spirits and relieve tensions.
On Thursday Professor Nutt and his business partner David Orren launched the drink - the third drink in their Sentia Spirits trilogy, which they describe as “the prosecco of Sentias”.
They said: “We wanted a functional drink that could replicate that conviviality of alcohol, but be much much less harmful.”
