Need Help in Understanding the "Blood Alcohol Content" and Its Effects

Had Enough

Hi folks:

I realize this topic is not JW related, but I'm desperately trying to find some accurate info.

I have been having an ongoing difference of opinion with someone dear to me and I would like to be accurate in my facts, and if my current feelings are wrong, I am willing to adjust. But if my suspicions are correct then I would like to have some accurate facts to back me up. This is not a battle of "who's right and who's wrong"....it is a desperate attempt on my part to prevent a dear one from any severe consequences of drinking and driving and being misinformed or disillusioned as to how "not drunk" one is.

I understand that "your blood alcohol content is based upon the quantity of beverages consumed, the alcohol percentage in each drink, your weight, and the time spent drinking". Also that 1.5 oz liquor, 1 - 12 oz bottle beer and 1 - 5 oz glass of wine are all equal in effect.

And also, it is said on info websites about this topic, that "Your liver can metabolize about an ounce of alcohol an hour or about one beer an hour, but this will vary from person to person and according to your weight."

My questions are:

1. Does the statement that the "liver can metabolize about an ounce of alcohol an hour" really mean that a person can pace themselves like this and be OK to drive and not blow over the limit.....even after say...6 drinks in 6 hours?

2. How does a 12 oz bottles of Coolers or sparkling wines like Spumante Bambino (7% alcohol per volume) compare to the equation. For example...a 12 oz bottle of sparkling wine or Cooler equals in volume a little over 2 - 5 oz glasses. So do these drinks equal, in the BAC equation, 2 glasses of wine or 1 bottle of beer. It makes a big difference in the equation.

Please just help me out with some factual info. I'm tired of locking horns on this subject and if I'm wrong in my understanding of these questions I've asked, then I'll give in. My only reason for pursuing this subject is my concern over someone who feels they can legally drink 1 drink an hour over a period of about 5-6 hours and not legally blow over and also feels that drinking a 12 oz Cooler or sparkling wine equals 1 drink in the equation of calculating your BAC (Blood Alcohol Content) and not 2....as is 2 - 5 oz glasses of wine.

Thank you for any help you can give me on the question.

Had Enough

ballistic

I don't have time to research the answer properly, but I would have thought the fact that you can still be "over the limit" in the morning deflates the argument.

Also bear in mind that the rate eveyone metabolizes alcohol or any substance varies according to age, weight, sex and a myriad other factors. The older you get, the slower you metabolize alcohol.

Drinking after a meal slows down the passage of the stomach contents into the gut, and only 20% of the alcohol is absorbed through the throat and stomach.

Intrestingly, as a converse point, sparkling wines and chamagne get you drunk quicker because they actually stimulate the opening up the stomach's closure to the gut, which logically would cause your metabolic processes to kick in quicker.

Whether the body can metabolize at a sustained rate I think is the key question.

Maybe a better question to ask is why someone is trying to use such an argument when putting other people's lives at risk (drinking and driving) is rapidly becoming a taboo subject in many countries.

vitty

I may be wrong but I think even if your liver breaks down the drink within an hour, it doesnt mean the alcohol has left your body.

There is no way you can drink 6 drinks in six hours and still be under the limit.

The message is clear dont drink and drive...........at all. Thats the safest policy.

rebel8

feels that drinking a 12 oz Cooler or sparkling wine equals 1 drink in the equation of calculating your BAC (Blood Alcohol Content) and not 2....as is 2 - 5 oz glasses of wine

That is a typical argument from someone who does not want to believe the truth. heh, someone of normal intelligence trying to say it doesn't count if it's all in the same glass. That's like saying this: Say a piece of cheesecake has 600 calories, and you eat a whole piece. Do the calories in the rest of the pieces disappear just because you ate them all on the same dish?

(highlighter stuck on again, sorry) You may be able to find some info on the NIH or CDC web sites, or Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD). Don't forget there are gender differences in alcohol metabolism too. Also, each person's liver/body is slightly different and may not metabolize alcohol as quickly as one hour.

I think there are some over the counter devices similar to breathalyzers. You could ask your friend to do an experiment and keep taking the test to prove he/she is still intoxicated. Of course then he/she will probably say, "Yeah but I'm used to it so I can drive just fine." If a person refuses to believe the facts, they will come up with a million excuses.

inbyathread

I think rebel8 is on the right direction. How about this question.

The piece of cheesecake has 600 calories and I exercise to the point that I've burned 600 calories.

Will I ever gain weight?

Can we use the same argument for alcohol? I've given this suggestion to young people starting to drink. Drink one serving of alcohol, whether it be a bottle of beer, glass of wine, shot, one per 1 1/2 hours. This gives the body time to metabolize and you have less of a chance to get in trouble. Seems to work.

hillbilly

I dont know what "impaired" is in Wisconsin... but I have seen a person "blow" sober and BLOOD TEST legally drunk 6 or 7 hours after he claimed he took his last drink of the night.

This guy was being random tested for CDL reasons by his employer...he smelled like a brewery and the HR folks ordered blood tests based on his behavior at the test site.

You are right in you argument with this person so far.... I hope they dont find out the hard way about DUI laws.

I will toss this into the mix.... The feds require aircraft pilots to NOT FLY unless 8 hours have elapsed since their last drink.... If memory serves that 8 hour rule shows up in the DOT rules for truck drivers too.

Lastly...all the facts in the world will be out-rationalised by someone who wants to undertake a dangerous behavior. You laid it out for this person...unless you can control his actions with consequenses your may be wasting your breath.

~Hill

stevenyc

Here's a quick guide: http://www.ou.edu/oupd/bac.htm

There is a more indepth one out there, I'll try and find it for you.

steve

Nathan Natas

This is a math problem.

The difficulty in real-world practice is that the alcohol content of various kinds of booze will vary.

for example, in hard booze you can go from Everclear - which is very nearly 100% ethyl alcohol, to less than 25% alcohol for some liquers. that's a 4X difference.

The basis of a "drink equivalent" is one-half ounce of absolute (200 proof, 100%) alcohol.

Any drink that works out to having a half-ounce of alcohol in it is EQUAL in potency to that half-ounce shot of Everclear.

Thus,

12 ounces of 4% beer contain 0.48 ounces of alcohol

5 ounces of 10% wine contain 0.50 ounces of alcohol

1.25 ounces of 40% vodka (80 proof) contain 0.50 ounces of alcohol

1.25 ounces of 43% whiskey (86 proof) contain 0.52 ounces of alcohol

Now, in the case of your 12 oz bottles of Coolers or sparkling wines like Spumante Bambino (7% alcohol per volume) 12 x 0.07 = 0.84 ounces of alcohol, or 1.68 alcohol equivalents.

That's the math.

JeffT

My response to this is going to be colored by the fact that I spent September in rehab. Sorry if I come off as too blunt. ANY alcohol in your system impairs your judgement to some extent. Recently the state of Washington (or maybe MADD) has been putting up signs that say "driving buzzed is drunk driving." As noted above the FAA won't let you fly a plane if you've had ONE drink in the last 8 hours.

Tell your friend that being on the legal side of drunk on a BAC won't help the kid he ran over after 6 drinks in 6 hours. My personal opinion is that your friend needs to take a long, serious look at his/her drinking.

Had Enough

Thank you all so very much for your time and effort in answering my questions. Your caring touches me to tears.

It's been so hard to be sure if he is "legally" impaired because the info I found on the internet just left me not knowing how to calculate just how much effect the coolers and sparkling wines really did affect the body and one site did say just what he is rationalizing: "Your liver can metabolize about an ounce of alcohol an hour or about one beer an hour, but this will vary from person to person and according to your weight". So that along with the fact that he doesn't "look" drunk or impaired, has left me confused and not really knowing if I'm just being paranoid or picky.

Plus he does acknowledge that when we go out and we have few (or several) drinks, we shouldn't drive and so automatically get a taxi ride home, but its those times when he feels it's OK to pace himself with no more that 1 drink an hour, that I'm afraid of....and like I said before...not knowing whether a 12 oz bottle of sparkling wine is really just 1 drink or is it 2 glasses of wine. That makes a big difference in the calculations.

But most importantly, putting all the numbers and calculations aside, the bottom line should be "why drink at all if you know you are going to have to drive later". I truly believe that any alcohol can impair one's judgment and reaction time so why take the chance.

I have agonized over this for quite awhile and have tried to say the right things to trigger some logic in him, so not being armed with real facts just left my comments irritating him and not helping him and is causing a real rift in our relationship.

Thanks to your comments, insight and facts, I understand it better now. I can't tell you how much your caring responses mean to me.

Had Enough

Need Help in Understanding the "Blood Alcohol Content" and Its Effects

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