Supersoldiers, Alcohol, and Drugs

samtalksfunny:

Expanding on my last post about supersoldier metabolism… bear in mind I’m not a doctor or a nutritionist, just an enthusiastic and curious amateur, so I welcome input or corrections.

So.  Couple of questions.  Enough about the raw calories required for supersoldiering… What about alcohol? What about painkillers? It’s NOT the case, I don’t think, that ‘supersoldier metabolism is just too fast for them.’  I think there’s a lot more going on.

1. We need to consider that individual response to alcohol is ALREADY variable: different people can metabolize alcohol more or less well. Much of our ability to metabolize alcohol usefully is genetic. So genetic modification could easily fix any problems that occur due to the byproducts of oxidizing alcohol.

2. Second option is that supersoldiers’ enhanced healing ability comes in and ‘cleans up’ the tissue damage caused by these byproducts.  Presumably that’s just the result of enhanced immune function.

OK.  Now what about the common canonical issue with supersoldiers and how their ‘metabolism’ gets rid of drugs or reduces the effect.

1. Let’s consider opioids.  These work similarly to the body’s own painkillers.  Easy reason this might not work well with supersoldiers?  Frankly, it’s very likely that their bodies undergo such chronic acute trauma that they actually develop a tolerance to their own endogenous opioids.  Thus, exogenous painkillers wouldn’t work except in massive doses–and it would be a vicious cycle, as, presumably, supersoldiers ALSO adapt more quickly to increased dosage and would become tolerant to THAT, too. I like this theory because it explains how they aren’t necessarily sustaining less damage or feeling less pain than a normal person would; they’re simply healing faster.  Therefore, it makes sense that their internal painkilling drugs wold have to work overtime and that they would develop a tolerance to their own pain-suppressing neurochemicals.  

2. Aspirin or other anti-inflammatories: seems pretty straightforward. The endogenous anti-inflammatory response is too fast to need ‘help’ from aspirin or ibuprofen.  MAYBE they have enhanced ability to convert omega-6 fatty acids to omega-3 to take advantage of eicosanoids/other stuff that fights inflammation, etc.  Or maybe SHIELD nutritionists/HYDRA nutritionists(??? dude HYDRA NUTRITIONISTS I want that job) give Captain America/The Winter Soldier a lot of fish oil.  Well hey, the Russians eat a lot of smoked fish!

oh my god now I want to write a fanfic where a HYDRA nutritionist recommends they feed the Winter Soldier more herring that would be amazing.

ETA: oh my god it would be RED herring if the Russians gave it to him.

ETA 2: this sounds like a Hydra Trash Party fic (”Brock Rumlow feeds the asset a herring”) except it would just be literally a freaking herring.

P.S. I have way, way more thoughts on all of this but it’s getting a little technical…