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 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 30g/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.