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Page 2: The Three Steps Of Drinking
ABSORBING
Once alcohol is swallowed, it is not digested like food. Instead, a
small amount is absorbed directly by the mucosal lining of the mouth.
Once in the stomach, alcohol is absorbed directly
into your blood stream through the tissue lining the stomach and small
intestine. Food, water and fruit juice help to slow this absorption,
while carbonation works to speed absorption.
TRANSPORTING
Once alcohol is in your blood stream, it is carried to all the organs
of your body. In the majority of healthy people, blood circulates
through the body in 90 seconds, thereby allowing alcohol to affect
your brain and all other organs in 90 seconds. The affects of alcohol
on the body will vary according to the individual; their sex, their
body make-up, the amount and type of alcohol consumed, the situation,
and the presence of food in the stomach.
CHANGING
Alcohol is a drug that must be changed into a non-harmful substance.
Ten percent of the alcohol is eliminated through sweat, breath, and urine.
Your liver must detoxify the remaining alcohol.
The liver detoxifies, or breaks down, alcohol at a rate of one half an
ounce per hour. However, some people cannot detoxify that much alcohol
in an hour. Nothing will speed this rate. When the rate of alcohol
consumed exceeds the liver’s detoxification rate, the amount of alcohol in
the bloodstream continues to increase, further impairing the brain, causing
intoxication, coma, or possibly death.