Previously, I made a post explaining how alcohol affects the body, brain specifically, to make humans drunk. To summarize that post for anyone who did not read it, basically when the ethanol contained in alcohol enters a person’s blood stream, it travels throughout the body. As it passes through the brain, this is how a person begins to feel and appear drunk. Throughout the brain, there are different parts that control functions of the body. As the alcohol contaminated blood travels through it slows down the different parts it passes through. Also the more a person drinks and the faster it is consumed will slow down the brain faster. Then after the brain, the alcohol also affects other internal organs such as the liver, bladder, and stomach, but I did not go into depth with those. However, I have now decided to do further research.

Whether we learned in high school health class, or even experience, we all know people handle alcohol differently. Most men can drink more than a female, even if they are the same body size and weight. Also, some men can drink more while feeling less affected than others, usually depending on size (muscle or fat). There are also beliefs that different races can drink more alcohol, which I do not think is true, so I researched a persons’ race to alcohol too. First off, the gender and fat or muscles on a person are related to each other. As stated on this article from www.umd.edu , “Women, having a naturally higher percentage of body fat than men. Due to this, each drink is more concentrated in a woman’s blood stream.” The reason for this is more blood flows through a persons muscles than it does fat. As the blood flows through the muscles, there is a lower percentage being distributed throughout the rest of the body. Along with this, the article further stated, “A woman’s body is composed of approximately 45% to 50% water, while a man’s body is about 55% to 65% water. The lower fluid volume in women results in higher concentrations of alcohol in the bloodstream compared to men.” Due to this, even if a woman is extremely muscular and has a very low body fat percentage, it is easier for her to become drunk and feel alcohol’s effects sooner. Prior to researching this I had no idea that women contained less water in their body. I thought both genders held the same amount of fluid; it was just that most men are more muscular.

Additionally, this is how race comes into play. Although it is believed that the Irish, for example, hold liquor better than other nationalities, it is a misconception. Just because a country is known for drinking a large amount of alcohol or a certain type does not mean the ability to retain alcohol better can be naturally in a person’s genes; for the most part. There is an exception to this belief, and it is in the Asian race. Stated by Frank Kelly Rich in this article, “A large percentage experience flushing of the skin, nausea, headache, and other uncomfortable symptoms from drinking a single alcoholic beverage. Those symptoms result primarily from inactivity of aldehyde dehydrogenase-2 (ALDH2), an enzyme involved in a key step of alcohol metabolism.” This is important because alcohol metabolism is the rate at which alcohol is diminished from the blood stream. This process determines how long drunkenness will last, so usually the quicker the better.

Based off of all of the research presented, men can hold alcohol better than women. On average they have more muscle mass to absorb alcohol and contain more fluid in his body. Also, women usually have more fat and less water in the body which is a disadvantage compared to men with “holding their alcohol.” In addition, race usually does not have an effect on how fast a person can become drunk or how much a person can drink, except for Asian people. It is all due to a person’s size, muscle mass, and if food is still in their stomach to help absorb alcohol as it enters the body.

Sources:

http://www.umd.edu/ocrsm/files/Alcohol_&_GenderDifferences.pdf

http://drunkard.com/issues/07_02/mysteries.htm