Reader’s Question:

We always go out on Saturdays and have some fun drinking the night out here in Washington, DC. It pays to be careful so not to be charged with DWI. Question is, can the pace of how the person drinks affect the blood alcohol content? And is it true that gender can also affect the blood alcohol in the body?

Chris

Washington, DC

Saturday night in Washington, DC is the best time of the week and it will never be complete without a night out and a drink. But there are certain things that you need to know about to get you out of trouble of being charged with DWI. To answer your question, yes, how fast a person drink could greatly affect the blood alcohol content (BAC) in a person’s body. The quicker the person drinks, the higher the peak BAC would be. The liver actually gets rid of the alcohol at the average rate of one drink per hour (five oz wine, 12 oz beer, one shot of distilled liquor). The remainder would circulate in the blood stream until the liver can get rid of it if a person drinks faster than this.

It could also affect the BAC in a person’s body if you are a male or a female. A woman reaches higher BAC’s faster because they have more adipose tissue (fat) and less water in their bodies, which is not easily penetrated by alcohol. This means that a man and a woman, with all other factors being equal, both drinking the same amount of alcohol, would have different BAC levels; a woman’s BAC would be higher. The menstrual cycle of a woman would also affect her rate of absorption and they experience their highest BAC’s pre-menstrually. In addition to this, there is also evidence that a woman who takes birth control pills would absorb alcohol faster, resulting in higher BAC levels.

Tags: blood alcohol test, DWI, DWI lawyer