Metabolism

[grayfalcon89]

Is this true?

 

A person's metabolism can affect his or her blood alcohol concentration.

 

I know that if you have more fat, you'll get higher BAC than person who is skinnier. But I don't know if metabolism plays a role in this. What do you guys think?

[RyanJ]

A person's metabolism can affect his or her blood alcohol concentration.

 

Yes - although alcohol breakdown is quite complex, as with anything increaed energy means increased demand and so it will be broken down faster as a result

 

Cheers,

 

Ryan Jones

[StarBreaker]

Thanks guy. Not a big enough issue to bother the moderators with though, huh?

 

ON topic while Im here. My personal experince has been yes. My metabolism is high(Im a wiry 160lbs w/ high energy) and even after develping a tollerance, I became drunk pretty quick. I'd assume the quicker your body can process it, the quicker it gets to your organs etc.

[RyanJ]

Thanks guy. Not a big enough issue to bother the moderators with though' date=' huh?

 

ON topic while Im here. My personal experince has been yes. My metabolism is high(Im a wiry 160lbs w/ high energy) and even after develping a tollerance, I became drunk pretty quick. I'd assume the quicker your body can process it, the quicker it gets to your organs etc.[/quote']

 

 

Metabolism is the rate of all the cheical reactions in the body so ineffect it would mean you could get drunk faster but overcome it faster too because the toxins are broken down faster

 

Cheers,

 

Ryan Jones

[prion]

Alcohol is broken down by the liver, so the speed at which the alcohol is processed out of your body depends on what the liver is doing. I don't see how any other aspects of metabolism would affect alcohol concentration. It's absorbed through your stomach/gut and just goes straight to the liver. The alcohol that makes it untouched through the liver then goes around your body to make you feel drunk etc. The rate at which it then spreads around your body wouldn't have anything to do with metabolism.

 

I know that if you have more fat, you'll get higher BAC than person who is skinnier.

 

The reverse should be true - the bigger your body, the lower the blood alcohol concentration. If a thin person and a large person drink the same amount, then the thin person will have a higher blood alcohol concentration. Since concentration is amount divided by volume, and since the larger person has a larger volume (you have to consider total body water, of which the blood is only a small part).

[alpinestar]

note:

People of caucasian slavic nations have different numbers as far as lethal consumtpion of alcohol goes, ask me about in-depth questions related to this topic im Polish.

Cheers.

P.S

"Let me know if you're a looking for a lab bunny."

[Royston]

Slightly off topic. but Aborigines become intoxicated very easily from alcohol...I think it's due to the fact they havn't developed a concentration of a certain enzyme (that could be wrong) but no history of alcohol consumption from your predecessors is also a factor to how easily you get drunk. Though if this effects the speed of intoxication and recovery, I'm not too sure ?

[mattbimbo]

intestinal flora too can influence blood alcohol levels. our stomachs, to varying degrees, are producing alcohols, including ethanol, all the time.

[Xyph]

People of caucasian slavic nations have different numbers as far as lethal consumtpion of alcohol goes

What do you mean? Slavs have a greater tolerance to alcohol?

[gcol]

Dont know about the rate at which different ethnic groups metabolise alcohol, but am pretty sure a degree of tolerance conditioning through practice is possible. When as a youth I drank with some immoderation, it took a considerable quantity of alcohol to achieve the "party" effect. The same is now achieved with a single glass of red wine. Regular drunks seem to down gallons of the stuff without any pleasurable benefit.

[Mercurial]

two things: 1) I know that depending on how often you drink, your liver cells can adapt by upregulating the initial enzyme in alcohol metabolism (ethanol oxidase? oxidase? dunno) and 2) I know at least with asians they (we ) lack catalase which is why our face gets all red when we drink alcohol. Have no idea what the connection is there but that's my two cents on the subject

[prion]

Isn't it aldehyde dehydrogenase that some people lack?

 

Alcohol is partly processed by the cytochrome p450 enzymes in the liver, and these are easily up-regulated. So if you drink lots, over time you make more cyt p450s and you speed up the processing of alcohol, so it takes you more to get drunk. Then if you drink less the enzymes will down-regulate and you'll get drunk on less again. (that step produces aldehyde, which makes you feel rough and which aldehyde dehydrogenase gets rid of. Catalase might come into it somewhere though, not sure.)

 

Apparently a good way to prepare for a heavy night is to have a drink at lunchtime, and this will kick-start your liver enzymes into action and prepare them for the onslaught!