“A lot of interesting smoke”: Is Ozzy Osbourne actually scientifically immune to alcohol?
As it stands, it’s probably safe to say you should never take any advice from Ozzy Osbourne, especially when it comes to lifestyle. Definitely not when it comes to lifestyle habits. After all, any self-respecting person with a hangover would probably look at his advice to “mix four tablespoons of brandy with four tablespoons of port” and think, probably not really the best idea.
But, then again, any typical person probably hasn’t experienced and survived all the things Osbourne has, not just when it comes to the strange alcohol and eggs concoction he downs whenever he’s feeling a little worse for wear. And anyone in half a mind to think they can get away with a fraction of the stuff Osbourne got up to one in a whole probably needs a good, hard look in the mirror.
But, again, any typical person doesn’t have the same genetic makeup as someone like Osbourne. Literally. Beyond his very real reputation as the notorious partying Iron Man, Osbourne is actually a scientific anomaly, capable of stomaching (pun intended) more than the average person when it comes to general lifestyle, and, in this case, substances like alcohol.
This was proven in 2010 by a study that mapped his entire DNA makeup, research that revealed to scientists a mutation near his ADH4 gene. ADH4 typically converts alcohol and breaks it down, meaning the mutation interferes with the way his body detoxifies alcohol compared to the way it’s supposed to pass through the system. For anyone who’s ever wondered how Osbourne manages to function after decades of excess, this could be the missing link.
This is something Osbourne himself joked about long before the study. Aside from his quip about the only gene he’s familiar with being the one in Kiss, Osbourne has long jested about his own physical immunity and stamina, matching with any watchful observer who’s probably looked at him once or twice and found themselves idly wondering, “How the hell does he do it?”
To be clear, though, the mutation found during the study doesn’t make Osbourne immune to alcohol consumption, not exactly. The risks are still there, as with anybody, but it means that his body can metabolise it differently thanks to a different kind of protein in his gene, though it’s not entirely clear what this means long-term, or whether it has any correlation with Osbourne’s health beyond the immediate inner working of his body after drinking.
Knome CEO Jorge Conde seemed to put it best when he said: “What we did see, as one of our scientists refers to it, is a lot of interesting smoke—but not any specific fire. We found many variants—novel variants—in genes associated with addiction and metabolism that are interesting but not quite definitive.” In other words, Osbourne definitely has something different to everybody else, but it’s difficult to figure out what that means in the broader context of alcohol consumption.
But then again, is that really a surprise? The Prince of Darkness—the man who’s lived every single life you can think of and then some—has a mutation that makes him better equipped to deal with all the rock ‘n’ roll antics he put himself through, stark enough for scientists to detect it, though too inconclusive to offer any real insights. That’s pretty much Ozzy all over, isn’t it? From a different world, wired mysteriously to somehow survive the only one we know.
