How does the body absorb alcohol?

After alcohol passes your lips, it travels into your stomach and small intestine, where it is absorbed into the bloodstream. Your blood alcohol content depends on how quickly you drink it, as well as on:

• Carbonation: This may increase absorption speed.
• Stomach contents: Solid food impedes alcohol absorption.
• Gender: Women have less alcohol-metabolizing enzyme and tend to feel alcohol's effects more quickly than men.
• Age: Alcohol concentration will reach a higher level in the blood of people over 65 and will circulate in the body longer.
• Weight: The less a person weighs, the higher that person's blood alcohol content from drinking a given amount of alcohol.

Once in your bloodstream, alcohol quickly travels through the blood via a network of arteries to your heart, brain, lungs, and organs until it can be broken down. A small amount of the alcohol taken into the body leaves through the lungs, kidneys, and skin, but it is your liver's job to break down the majority of the alcohol with enzymes, purging the blood and body of alcohol's toxic by-products.

However, this is a slow process. The liver can generally only process one ounce of liquor an hour. Consuming more than this saturates your system, causing the additional alcohol to accumulate in the blood and body tissues until it can be metabolized. The more alcohol in your blood, the greater the effect on your vital organs.

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