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SlideshowReport

The Metabolism of Alcohol in the Human Body

Description
When you drink beverage alcohol around 2 to 8 percent is lost through urine, sweat, or the breath. The other 92 to 98 percent is metabolized by your body.

There are three different enzymes which the body uses to convert alcohol to acetaldehyde. All three of these enzymes work by stripping two hydrogen atoms off from the alcohol molecule. This converts the alcohol molecule into a molecule of acetaldehyde.

The surface area of the human stomach is only a couple of square feet, but because the small intestine has protrusions called villi, the surface area of the small intestine is thousands and thousands of square feet. Because of this fact the small intestine is many, many times more efficient than the stomach at absorbing alcohol. If you want the alcohol to be absorbed into the bloodstream slowly so that your BAC will only rise slowly, your best bet is to keep the alcohol in the stomach for as long as possible. This actually can be done. There is a valve between the stomach and the small intestine called the pyloric valve, and when this valve is closed the alcohol will stay in the stomach. This valve stays closed when the stomach is full of food. So this is why eating a full meal helps keep you from becoming rapidly intoxicated. Fatty foods and heavy foods tend to stay in the stomach longer than vegetables or sugars.


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