Blood Alcohol Content is About More Than What You Drink 

In the previous segment we started out discussing the fact that few people are able to tell when they’ve had too much to drink. However, while we can’t solve that problem for you, we can provide you with a list of factors that affect your BAC. Previously we touched on the first four items, namely age, alcohol tolerance, body type and carbonation. Moving on, we will be looking at the next four items on the list:

Diabetes:

Alcohol often affects the glucose levels, depending on how much of it you consume. For diabetics, that can be dangerous. For example, alcohol can cause a rapid drop in blood sugar, leading to hypoglycemia or “insulin shock”, which if not treated immediately, can lead to death. In addition, certain diabetic medications can react with alcohol, along with the fact that liver function is compromised when drinking. Diabetics are encouraged to talk to their doctors before consuming alcohol.

Drink Strength:

This one may be rather obvious, but it’s no less true. The stronger the drink, the more it will affect you. In this case, the strength refers to the alcohol content. So a drink like vodka, which usually contains at least 40% alcohol, will have a far greater effect on your BAC than a drink like beer, which on average tends to have about 3 or 4% alcohol content.

Emotional State:

This may seem like a stretch, but it is actually a proven fact – your emotional state when you consume alcohol will impact the way in which the alcohol affects you. For example, stress has a distinct impact on your body’s ability to metabolize alcohol. Usually, it causes your body to divert blood away from your stomach and small intestines, where the digestion takes place, and into your muscles instead. This way, when you finally calm down after after having a few drinks, and your blood flow returns to it’s normal pattern, you may suddenly experience a surge in your blood alcohol content.

Fat/Muscle Ratio:

Believe it or not, the shape you’re in will affect how your body processes alcohol. Because fatty tissue contains less water than muscle, it cannot absorb alcohol. As a result, the alcohol remains in the bloodstream until the liver can process it. Whereas muscle, which has a higher water content, can absorb some of the alcohol, diverting it from the blood stream and resulting in a slower rise in the BAC.

Join us next time as we look at the last five factors on the list, namely food, gender, medications, metabolism and rate of consumption.