Water and a Big Meal Won’t Absorb the Alcohol

by Lisa Frederiksen

The following is another  excerpt from our upcoming booklet, Seven Myths That Can Kill… If you’d like to purchase a copy for your college student, high school student, of if a parent, yourself, so that you’ll be prepared with what to say to your middle school student, use the Contact Us link. The booklets are $1.95 each (does not include CA sales tax or postage/mailing), and should be available by September 1, 2010.

Myth #4:  Drink lots of water and eat a big meal, and it will “absorb” the alcohol.

Reality: Surprisingly, this is not true – surprising in the sense that alcohol dilutes in water, so why wouldn’t that dilute the alcohol? And, it all goes to the same place – the stomach – so why doesn’t eating food absorb the alcohol?

It’s because alcohol is not digested like other foods, which are broken down by the digestive system into smaller molecules of nutrients to nourish cells and provide energy. Alcohol avoids the normal digestive process and goes directly to the bloodstream from the small intestine.

Drinking water, however, does help a person minimize hangover symptoms which are caused in part by the dehydration that alcohol can cause.

With regards to food – we are constantly told not to drink on an empty stomach, which is, by the way, excellent advice to follow. But it’s not because the food will absorb the alcohol. (Remember – food and alcohol are processed differently – food is digested by the body’s digestive system, alcohol is metabolized by the liver.)

Food is important because it slows down how fast the stomach empties its contents (in this example, alcohol) into the intestine, and from there to the small intestine, and from there into the bloodstream. And, it is this slowing down that can help a person stay in control of how much they drink. Having a couple quick drinks on an empty stomach, allows the alcohol to move quickly into the small intestine and from there into the bloodstream. And, as you read under Myth #1, alcohol dissolves in water, travels through the bloodstream to body tissue high in water content – the brain, for example. Alcohol “sitting” in the brain, while it “waits” to be metabolized by the liver, causes the alcohol to suppress normal brain functions. And it’s that that gets in the way of a person’s ability to think straight, act responsibly and/or behave “normally.” Instead s/he can tell him/herself things like, “I’m f-i-n-e, I’ll just have another, and then I’ll stop.” Or “No worries. I’m okay to drive.”

Bottom line: drinking water helps hydrate you, reducing hangover symptoms; food slows how fast alcohol enters the bloodstream. Neither water nor food, however, will keep you from getting drunk if you drink more than the brain and body can process.

So how much is too much? The rule of thumb for this is to follow what are known as “moderate” drinking limits:
•    For women, that’s no more than 7 standard drinks in a week, with no more than 3 of those 7 in any one day.
•    For men, that’s no more than 14 standard drinks in a week, with no more than 4 of those 14 in any one day.

[Note: Binge drinking was previously defined as 4 or more drinks on an occasion for women and 5 or more for men. The definition here, showing a per day limit of 3 for women and 4 for men, is to help people avoid rationalizing two “occasions” in the same day as a way to drink all, or a majority, of their weekly drink quantities at once.]

As you’ve gathered, the idea behind these limits is to help a person maintain brain and body control. Additionally, it helps a person avoid the chemical and structural changes caused by repeated alcohol abuse. And, these changes are real!

© 2010 Lisa Frederiksen, Excerpt from the 20-page booklet, titled: “Seven Myths That Can Kill…” by Lisa Frederiksen, available September 2010. All Rights Reserved.