Alcohol: Mechanism of Digestion & how long it stays in body

 The average person will take about an hour to process 10 grams of alcohol, which is the amount of alcohol in a standard drink. So if you drink alcohol faster than your body can process it, your blood alcohol level will continue to rise.

In terms of determining exactly how long alcohol is detectable in the body depends on many factors, including which kind of drug test is being used.

• Blood: Alcohol can show up in a blood test for up to 12 hours.
• Urine: Alcohol can be detected in urine for up 3 to 5 days via the ethyl glucuronide (EtG) test..
• Hair: Similar to other drugs, alcohol can be detected in a hair follicle drug test for up to 90 days.

After you swallow an alcoholic drink, about 25 per cent of the alcohol is absorbed straight from your stomach into the bloodstream. The rest is mostly absorbed from your small bowel. How quickly you absorb the alcohol depends on several factors like:

1. The concentration of alcohol in your drink (drinks with a higher alcohol concentration are generally absorbed faster);

2. Whether your drink is carbonated (champagne, for example, is absorbed more quickly than non-sparkling drinks); and

3. Whether your stomach is full or empty (food slows down the absorption of alcohol).

Once alcohol has entered your bloodstream it remains in your body until it is processed. About 90-98 per cent of alcohol that you drink is broken down in your liver. The other 2-10 per cent of alcohol is removed in your urine, breathed out through your lungs or excreted in your sweat.

Mechanism of Digestion:

Most alcohol is broken down, or metabolised, by an enzyme in your liver cells known as alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH). ADH breaks down alcohol into acetaldehyde, and then another enzyme, aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH), rapidly breaks down acetaldehyde into acetate. The acetate is further metabolised, and eventually leaves your body as carbon dioxide and water.

A small amount of alcohol may be processed using a different set of enzymes in your liver. This alternative pathway, known as the ‘microsomal ethanol-oxidising system’ is mainly used when the level of alcohol in your blood is very high. Regular drinking can increase the activity of this pathway.

In medicine claiming to treat alcohol habits, medicine inhibits the function of enzyme Alcohol Dehydrogenase (ADH) that results in indigestion of alcohol in body.