basic alcohol process

Alcohol, or ethyl alcohol (C2H5OH), refers to the intoxicating ingredient found in wine, beer and hard liquor. It is a chemical and like many other chemicals that affects the central nervous system by initially sedating your central nervous system then, if you drink too much, it irritating it.

Every person experiences alcohol and its physical effects differently. Perhaps this is why a "regular drinker" may not even notice the effects of a beer, while someone who never drinks will feel drunk after after just one beer even though the physical changes in their bodies are the same. As you most likely already know alcohol affects each person differently, depending upon gender, age, genetics, size, weight and other factors. Some of these factors explain why (assuming the same amount of alcohol is consumed) there is a difference in alcohol levels of a man and woman. A a general rule women have a smaller amount of "body water" and because alcohol is dispersed throughout the body via water, women reach higher peak alcohol level than men after consuming the same amount of alcohol (Frezza et al. 1990). Remember as a general rule body fat is usually higher in women and also that skeletal mass (bones) and fat absorb very little alcohol.

Once the alcohol reaches your stomach a percentage is also absorbed directly across the walls (on an empty stomach alcohol can potentially reach the brain within one minute). Then the alcohol passses to the upper portion of the small intestine where it is rapidly absorbed and then your alcohol-laden blood travels to the liver and to the rest of your body.

Most ethanol metabolism is done in your liver which is the only organ in your body that can produce enough of the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase to oxidize alcohol at an appreciable rate. The liver converts the alcohol (by virtue of those enzymes) to other things like acetaldehyde. The liver, however, can only metabolize a given amount of alcohol per hour, regardless of the amount you consume. This explains why you get drunk - because you drink faster than your liver can work. Anyway, the multiple enzymes begin the breakdown process to reduce the amount of alcohol entering the blood which could otherwise be toxic.

As you can see the process is complicated and this is a very, very basic explaination. It is possible for an experienced DUI lawyer to use this known process to your advantage - given the specific facts of your case.

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