Alcohol: its action on the human organism / by a committee originally appointed by the Central control board (Liquor traffic) and later reconstituted by the Medical research council.

  • Great Britain. Central Control Board (Liquor Traffic). Advisory committee.
Date:
1938
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Alcohol: its action on the human organism / by a committee originally appointed by the Central control board (Liquor traffic) and later reconstituted by the Medical research council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    digestion, such as meat, it is conspicuously rapid. Thus, when a dose of alcohol is given to a man or other animal on an empty stomach, its presence can be detected in the blood within a few minutes; and if samples of the blood are taken at intervals after the dose is swallowed, and the proportion of alcohol in each sample is determined by analysis, it is found that the concentration of alcohol in the blood rises rapidly to a maximum, which, when other conditions are constant, bears a regular relation to the original dose. In experi- ments made for the Committee by E. Mellanby,* it was shown that the level of maximum concentration was reached in from 4 to 2 hours (Fig. 1). Conditions affecting the rate of absorption The actual speed of absorption seems, however, to vary with a number of conditions, such as the form in which the alcohol is taken, the extent to which it is diluted, and the time in relation to meals. The influence of these several conditions was investigated by Mellanby in experiments on the dog and on man. With regard to dilution, he found that when a given dose of alcohol was administered at 20% (spirits) strength, the alcohol was more rapidly absorbed and reached a higher level in the blood than when the same quantity was taken in 5% (ale) solution (Fig. 2). This effect of dilution in delaying absorption was most evident when relatively large doses of alcohol were drunk. Confirmation of Mellanby’s results has been provided by Miles,f who found in the human subject that the concen- tration of alcohol reached a higher level in the blood when given in a more concentrated than in a weaker solution. Thus when 27:5 grammes of alcohol were given in 100 c.c. of liquid the concentration in the blood at its highest point, 70 minutes after ingestion, was 43 milligrammes per * Spec. Rep. Ser. Med. Res. Comm., Lond., No. 31, 1919. + J. Pharmacol,, 1922-3, 20, 265.