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The Effect of Daily Alcohol Intake on Breath Alcohol Concentrations of Postmenopausal Women after a Bolus Dose
Janet A. Novotny, William V. Rumpler, David J. Baer, Joseph T. Judd
Objective: This study was designed to test whether daily alcohol intake can influence parameters related to rate of alcohol clearance and systemic alcohol exposure. Method: Postmenopausal women (N = 14) completed a study in which they consumed an alcohol treatment daily for 8 weeks. In a three-period crossover design, women consumed 0, 15 or 30 g/day ethanol, with each subject completing each treatment level. Following the 8-week adaptation period, the subjects consumed a single dose of 15 g ethanol, and breath samples were collected to assess breath alcohol concentration (BrAC) every 5 minutes until the BrAC declined to zero. Results: Adaptation to daily alcohol intake of 30 g/day resulted in reduced breath alcohol response compared to adaptation to 0 g/day. Specifically, area under the BrAC time curve was lower after women had consumed 30 g ethanol per day compared to that after daily consumption of 0 grams per day. Also, the time required for BrAC to decline to 0.01% after the bolus dose was reduced when subjects were adapted to 30 g/day compared to 0 g/day. Conclusions: Daily intake of alcohol at a level of 30 g/day appears to be sufficient to alter the parameters related to systemic alcohol exposure. (J. Stud. Alcohol 64: 380-383, 2003)
