Alcohol breakdown
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Under Alcohol breakdown one understands you chemical process. This takes place in both the liver, as well as in Body cells instead and ensures that alcohol that has entered the body is converted or broken down. The breakdown of alcohol takes place automatically and begins a short time after alcohol consumption. Depending on the amount of alcohol absorbed, the length of the breakdown can be vary greatly.
Process in the liver
Alcohol is also called Ethanol designated. Unlike other substances, alcohol is produced in the body not saved. Immediately after ingestion, the alcohol is over the Bloodstream transported into the cells of the body. Most of the alcohol gets through that liver metabolized and rendered harmless. Smaller parts of the alcohol are excreted through other organs, such as the kidneys, lungs, and skin.
In the liver, alcohol is mainly detoxified by a process known as oxidation referred to as. This essentially takes place in three different steps. In the first step, the alcohol that has been absorbed and transported to the liver via the blood is added acetaldehyde oxidized. This means that there is a chemical accumulation of oxygen. So an oxidation is only one Transformation of the chemical structure. With each conversion, the property of the alcohol is changed a little. Already after the first oxidation step, the alcohol no longer works in its intoxicating way.
in the second oxidation step will the acetaldehyde too acetate transformed. In terms of its chemical structure, acetate is even further removed from the actual alcohol, and the alcohol is correspondingly ineffective at this stage.
Of the third step is divided into activation and renewed oxidation. First of all, the acetate is activated by acetyl-CoA, then the remaining substance becomes in the tricarboxylic acid cycle Carbon dioxide and water oxidized. These two substances form the breakdown product of alcohol. Carbon dioxide is exhaled and water is made available to the body for further metabolic processes.
The entire breakdown path of alcohol requires numerous substances that act as Enzymes are designated. Enzymes accelerate degradation pathways and initiate reactions. Metabolic processes are not possible without them.
For the breakdown of alcohol is especially the so-called Alcohol dehydrogenase responsible. It is found in many cells in the body, but the one in the liver cells is the most important for humans. If larger amounts of alcohol are consumed and have to be metabolized, another enzyme system is started. It is also called Cytochrome P450 systemthat accelerates the breakdown of alcohol. A third enzyme, called the Catalase, is also involved in alcohol breakdown. It plays a role especially in the last step.
Accelerate alcohol breakdown
A common misconception is that you can speed up the breakdown of alcohol. The liver takes its time. The alcohol level cannot be reduced by more than 0.2 per mille per hour. However, there are measures to prevent the ingested alcohol from being perceived as intensely. This is often mistakenly portrayed as accelerated degradation.
Measures include eating something fatty before consuming alcohol. The stomach is then more preoccupied with the absorption of food than with that of alcohol. In addition, the alcohol removes fluid from the body, which can be compensated for by drinking water regularly. This also increases the volume of distribution in which the alcohol is located and its effect is weakened.
Also read our topic: Alcohol intolerance
Duration of alcohol breakdown
How long it takes to break down all of the alcohol ingested depends on various factors. First of all from the amount of alcohol consumed. It can be assumed that the more alcohol is consumed, the longer it takes to detoxify the alcohol. The body generally breaks down between 0.1 and 0.2 per thousand per hour. This means that a high can be broken down overnight. The alcohol from a bottle of beer or two glasses of wine, on the other hand, only takes 2-3 hours.
Another point how fast the Detox process of equipping is that physical condition. People who only drink alcohol very rarely have a longer breakdown path than Alcohol addicts.
In addition, the degradation speed also depends on gender and body weight from. Alcohol breaks down more slowly in women than in men. At strong people the degradation is faster than with very narrow.
The fact that alcohol is on empty stomach can be felt more strongly than on a full stomach, is less due to the speed of detoxification and more to the actual alcohol effect. The uptake into the bloodstream when the stomach is full does not take place as quickly, so it is also less noticeable. On an empty stomach the alcohol will absorbed into the blood faster and therefore acts more intensely.
Formula to break down alcohol
The chemical formula of alcohol is C2H6O. The formula for calculating the alcohol breakdown and its rate of breakdown is for Women:
- 0.31233 - 0.006446 body weight + 0.004466 body length.
At Men the formula is:
- 0.31608 - 0.004821 body weight + 0.004432 body length.
The body weight is used in kilograms and the height in centimeters. The result of this formula is the so-called Reduction factor. This can be used in another formula to get the Blood alcohol concentration (in per mille) to be able to determine:
- Amount of alcohol / (body weight reduction factor)
Alcohol in breast milk
Alcohol passes into breast milk in breastfeeding women. This means that the alcohol that the mother drank can get into the baby. For this reason, under no circumstances should alcohol be consumed while the mother is still breastfeeding. Should she still want to drink alcohol, breast milk can be expressed before consuming alcohol and then given to the infant. After moderate alcohol consumption, the mother should wait several hours before breastfeeding the baby again. However, alcohol consumption should be during the Lactation rather a exception so as not to endanger the health of the baby. A complete ban on alcohol applies throughout pregnancy. Failure to adhere to them while breastfeeding runs the risk of later onset in the infant neurological disorders and also to Developmental disorders comes.
Read more about the topic here: Alcohol during pregnancy
