Alcohol and You
‘Joe, I think you’ve had one too many,’ the host says.
‘Who, me?’ Joe replies, slurring his words. ‘I can handle it!’
‘Maybe so, but I suggest you have a cup of coffee before you drive home.’
GOOD advice? Definitely not! Actually, if he’s had too much to drink, a cup of coffee will not make it safe for Joe to drive home; nor will a breath of fresh air, a cold shower, or exercise. Such things may make Joe more awake. But there’s only one thing that will help him to sober up—time. To understand this better, it is helpful to take a look at how your body handles alcohol.
How Alcohol Works
When you drink an alcoholic beverage, the alcohol is quite “anxious” to get into your bloodstream.a Unlike other foods, it doesn’t need to be digested. Some 20 percent immediately passes into your bloodstream through the walls of your stomach. The rest is absorbed when it passes on to your small intestine.
The extent to which alcohol affects you depends upon how much it builds up in your bloodstream. And how quickly it builds up depends upon several factors:
(1) Amount of alcohol consumed: How much alcohol do you consume with a typical drink? Does a can of beer contain less alcohol than a shot of whiskey? Surprising as it may seem, the typical serving of beer, table wine, and 80-proof whiskey all contain about the same amount of alcohol—a little more than a half ounce (15 cc).b
Thus, the report Physiological Effects of Alcohol, published by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, concludes: “In terms of the effects that drinking has on an individual’s mind and body, then, it does not really matter a great deal whether he or she chooses to drink wine, beer, or ‘hard liquor’—what is most important is the actual amount of alcohol consumed.”
(2) Rate of absorption: A number of factors can affect the rate at which alcohol is absorbed into your bloodstream. Food is one factor. That is, having food in your stomach tends to dilute alcohol and slow down its absorption. So a person who has a glass of table wine with dinner will raise his blood alcohol level less than if he drank the same amount of alcohol on an empty stomach. The spacing of drinks can also affect absorption. Two drinks within a few minutes are much more intoxicating than two drinks taken over a couple of hours.
Weight is another factor. Why? Simply because the more a person weighs, the more fluid there is in his body to dilute alcohol. For example, explains the report Development of a Traffic Safety and Alcohol Program for Senior Adults:c “A person weighing 160 pounds [73 kg] has about 110 pounds [50 kg] of water in his/her body to dilute alcohol. After three drinks in an hour his/her BAC [blood alcohol content] would be about 0.07 percent. If an individual weighing 100 pounds [45 kg] drank the same amount in the same time, his/her BAC would be about 0.11 percent, and [he/she] would be eligible for arrest as a drunken driver.”
The alcohol concentration of the drink may also affect the absorption rate. That is, the greater the alcohol concentration of the drink the quicker the alcohol will be absorbed.
So the absorption of alcohol into your bloodstream can be somewhat hastened or slowed—depending on any of the above influences. However, there is one other factor that determines how much alcohol builds up in your bloodstream.
(3) Oxidation rate: Once alcohol is in your bloodstream, your body begins working to eliminate it. A small percentage (between 2 and 10 percent) is given off unchanged in the breath, sweat, and urine. The remainder is oxidized, “burned up,” mostly in the liver, where the chemical structure of the alcohol is changed to release heat and energy.
How quickly does your liver oxidize alcohol? The rate of oxidation may vary slightly from person to person, depending upon such factors as weight and health. According to the report by Malfetti and Winter, “as a general guide, a 150-pound [68-kg] person can oxidize (or ‘burn up’) the alcohol in one drink in one hour.”
How does alcohol build up in your bloodstream if your liver quickly swings into action to eliminate it? It is simple: When the absorption rate exceeds the oxidation rate, the blood alcohol level rises. The report Physiological Effects of Alcohol illustrates it this way: “It’s much like bailing water out of a leaky boat: If alcohol ‘leaks’ into the blood faster than the body can ‘bail it out,’ its level, or concentration, rises.” And as the blood alcohol level rises, the person gets increasingly intoxicated.
So while alcohol is rather “anxious” to get into the bloodstream, it takes its time about leaving. The body will “burn up” the alcohol at its fixed oxidation rate. And until it does, you should keep off the road. Why? Because alcohol affects you in several areas that are essential for the safe driving of an automobile.
[Footnotes]
a By “alcohol,” we have reference to beverages containing ethyl alcohol, or ethanol. There are other types of alcohol, such as methyl (wood) alcohol or isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol, but these are poisonous.
b By the typical serving, we refer to 12 ounces (355 cc) of beer, containing 4 to 5 percent alcohol; five ounces (148 cc) of table wine, containing 12 percent alcohol; and one and a half ounces (44 cc) of 80-proof whiskey, containing 40 percent alcohol.
c The report, by James L. Malfetti, Ed.D., and Darlene J. Winter, Ph.D., was prepared by the Safety Research and Education Project, Teachers College, Columbia University, and was sponsored by the AAA (American Automobile Association) Foundation for Traffic Safety.
[Picture on page 5]
If he’s had too much to drink, will coffee make it safe for him to drive?