Around 80 to 90 of uk adults drink alcohol so in this week's video we're looking at how long it
takes for your body to break down alcohol? And how it breaks it down we're also going
to be looking at the limits of alcohol that you should be drinking up to and also what can happen
if you're drinking over the limit so what are the long-term health implications of doing this
and how we can reduce our alcohol intake now just a really important quick note before we begin the
video if you found this video because you've had a quick drink of beer or wine or whatever
and you're thinking of driving then please do not drive do not drive if you've had any
amounts of alcohol i'm going to say that right from the start be responsible because any amount
of alcohol can affect your reflexes and it can affect your safety and other people's safety
that is the most important thing please be responsible and i'm going to discuss all
this as well throughout the video okay so now let's begin with some science first of all how
is alcohol broken down in your system how is it metabolized in other words so if you're having
some alcohol on an empty stomach around 20 of it is absorbed directly through your stomach
and goes straight into your bloodstream some of the alcohol in your stomach is
actually broken down by an enzyme known as alcohol dehydrogenase and it changes it to
something called acetaldehyde now acetaldehyde is also a toxic component just like alcohol
but sometimes you might notice when you've had a drink of alcohol you might feel a bit sick
you might feel like your heart's beating a bit more you might feel a bit red and look a bit red
that is due to that compound that's created so you may now be thinking well abraham what
happens to the remaining 80 of the alcohol while the remaining 80 goes into your small intestine
it's absorbed into your bloodstream and your bloodstream travels it to the rest of your body
or to your liver and in the liver around 90 percent of it is broken down into acetaldehyde
the same compound we're just talking about earlier and this happens in three different
ways so the first pathway is what we call the meos pathway and we have these things called microsomes
within the liver and they contain an enzyme which we call cytochrome p450 the cytochrome p450 enzyme
oxidizes the alcohol the second pathway is in peroxisomes where an enzyme called catalase
again oxidizes the alcohol and the third pathway which is actually the most common pathway is in
the cytosol of the liver where the enzyme that we spoke about earlier alcohol dehydrogenase is
also there which again oxidizes the alcohol so i hope this bit isn't too sciency but i'm trying to
make it as simple as possible just so you've got a rough understanding of how it works so we've
looked at the three pathways in the liver and the alcohol has been oxidized the next step is we've
got something called aldehyde dehydrogenase which then changes that acetaldehyde to something called
acetate and acetate either stays within your liver and makes fatty acids or cholesterol or it travels
in your bloodstream to other parts of the body which is then changed to carbon dioxide and water
and finally just under 10 of the alcohol leaves your body by your lungs from your kidneys or
in your sweat that's why sometimes when you're drinking alcohol you can smell it on your breath
and also you need to pee a lot so the next question is well how long does this whole
process take well on average about 10 minutes after you've finished your alcoholic beverage
about 50 of the alcohol is absorbed into your bloodstream and after about 30 to 60 minutes
it's fully absorbed into your bloodstream and in terms of how long it takes to burn these units
it takes on average about one hour to get rid of one unit of alcohol or eight grams of alcohol
but stop right there because it's not as simple as that there are many different variables that
come into play that actually affect these numbers that i've just given you now we're going to talk
about them as well but before we go into that i just want to say this again please please please
if you've had any alcohol to drink do not drive if you're watching this video for that reason please
if you have any alcohol to drink please do not drive be responsible any alcohol any level of it
can affect your reflexes okay and it can help cause direct harm to you or someone else and
it's just not worth it so please do not drink drive no matter how little alcohol you've had
please do not drink drive let's continue so moving on to the different variables that can affect how
the alcohol is absorbed and how it's broken down you've probably heard the saying never
drink on an empty stomach and this is totally correct you know when you're drinking alcohol
or any alcohol drink you really want to have a bit of food i usually say a fistful of food it
can be anything carbohydrates proteins any form of food is going to be really helpful and it's going
to affect how much alcohol we absorb because when you've had some food you're going to have more of
these digestive juices flowing in your stomach and what you're going to have in there you're
going to have that enzyme that we spoke about earlier alcohol dehydrogenase it's going to be in
there and it's going to help with the breakdown process right from the start when it gets into
your stomach another variable that you need to take into account is genetics if you're female
generally speaking you have less of this alcohol dehydrogenase that we've spoke about having less
of that is going to mean that you're actually going to absorb more alcohol into your system
and it's going to require less alcohol to have an effect on you unlike males who generally have
more alcohol dehydrogenase now another variable that you need to take into account is the type of
alcohol that you're drinking for example if you're drinking something that's carbonated that's fizzy
that's bubbly like champagne for example that can absorb into your bloodstream a lot quicker
than something that's still also the other thing that you need to think about is concentrations if
you're having something high in volume or high in concentration of alcohol again it can absorb
much faster into your bloodstream now moving on to the next variable how hydrated are you if you're
someone that's quite dehydrated the alcohol concentration is going to rise a lot quicker
to someone who is quite hydrated who have had enough water who've had six to eight glasses of
water a day who are quite hydrated that's why it's so important if you do drink any alcohol that you
remain hydrated as well your body composition and size can also affect how much water you can carry
also for example if you have quite a lot of fat on your body this can also cause an increase in the
absorption of alcohol and if you drink quite regularly you build something called alcohol
tolerance so we looked at the different pathways of how alcohol is broken down and what happens in
alcohol tolerances we have an increased production of the cytochrome p450 enzyme which we spoke about
earlier and this then causes a faster breakdown of alcohol and it also causes dependence though
alcohol dependence is a big issue now with that in mind we then need to talk about liver damage
because this is a really important thing that we need to discuss we've discussed how important the
liver is for breaking down alcohol but if you're drinking more than the recommended alcohol limit
of 14 units per week you can get liver damage and the liver damage is going to mean that you're
going to break down that alcohol a lot slower so what does this mean well it means that you're
going to have more alcohol in your bloodstream for longer periods so you're going to feel unwell for
longer it's going to take a lot longer for you to break down that alcohol and come back to normal
and also you can then develop liver problems such as liver cirrhosis fatty liver and even
liver cancer so this is an important thing that we need to discuss so the bottom line is this the
rate of alcohol breakdown is unique to your body there's no one-size-fits-all and there are so many
different variables in place such as your body composition how much you've had to eat what you're
drinking when you're drinking so many different variables so it's absolutely impossible to give
an actual factual based answer that it's going to take this long to break down it takes this long
to absorb it's very very difficult to do something like that it is unique to you which is why it's so
important and i'm going to say this again and you might not like me for saying this but if
you've had any alcohol to drink do not drive that is the most important thing please be responsible
look after yourself and look after others and be safe that's the most important thing in this video
that i want you to take home so now let's move on to recommended alcohol units and actually when to
seek medical advice if you're drinking too much so here in the uk the recommended alcohol limit is 14
units per week for men and women and we're looking at this spread over at least three days and also
the importance of alcohol three days during that week to give you a little time to break
down that alcohol remember we know how the whole process work so it's important that you're getting
those alcohol-free days to give your liver time to breathe and get back to normal okay now if you're
wondering how many units are in each drink i will leave a link in the description below to a really
good unit alcohol calculator so click in the description below to see it i've also got a little
infographic that'll come up here so if you want to look at that as well pause the video and have a
good look at it now we all have different drinking habits and sometimes it can actually have a
negative effect on our lives now if you're worried that all are concerned that you might be drinking
too much there's actually a really good audit that i found as well which i will leave a link to
in the description below feel free to check it out if you're concerned at all now another way to
live a healthy lifestyle is to reduce your alcohol intake we know this we know that alcohol increases
your heart rate we know that it dampens down your nervous system we know that it dehydrates you and
we know that if large amounts of alcohol are drank during a short period of time it can be
toxic and cause a lot of problems and as well as the short-term effects regularly drinking
too much alcohol can have long-term effects too so increasing the risk of high blood pressure
liver disease pancreatitis strokes dementia infertility and seven different types of cancers
so to reduce these risks it's recommended that you don't drink alcohol regularly and again
we're sticking to a limit of 14 units per week at least spread over three days and we're looking at
alcohol-free days that's really really important we do that as well and reducing our alcohol intake
can have many many health benefits so for example we're gonna get better sleep gonna get better
mental health better mood better concentration better skin weight loss less likely to have
heartburn and indigestion so there's so many health benefits that we can get from reducing
our alcohol intake and i know that when drinking alcohol has become a routine for a lot of people
it can be very difficult to get out that mindset because it's just become part of their normal
routine but there are things that you can do that can help so tip number one is to know your limits
like i mentioned earlier it's recommended that both men and women drink no more than 14 units
regularly a week so this is equivalent of six pints of beer or six medium glasses of wine
now different drinks have different alcohol contents which vary from brand to brand so
a really useful way to keep track of what you're drinking is to use an app or a unit calculator for
example a good app which i think is really helpful is drink aware track and calculate units app but
there are many more so do a bit of research if you don't like this one the second tip that i want to
give you is plan ahead look sometimes people drink alcohol after stressful days so if you know for
example on a wednesday you always have a stressful day at work and you end up drinking quite a lot
of alcohol after that think about it and plan ahead it's all about making these achievable
goals and doing these small things that can make a big difference so plan ahead think to yourself
actually on that day when i've had a stressful day i'm going to go for a run i'm going to go to the
gym i'm going to do a hobby something different to distract you so you're not becoming dependent
on the alcohol on those stressful days moving on to tip number three change your beverages to low
alcohol or no alcohol beverages this is a great way of reducing the number of alcohol units we
have per week and also it has much less calories in it and you can enjoy that great refreshing
taste that you might like and lastly tip number four don't be afraid to seek help look if you've
done the alcohol unit calculation and you know that you're drinking a lot more than that if
you've done the audit and you know that you're drinking a lot more than the recommended amount
and it's affecting your lifestyle it's affecting your mood it's affecting your relationship with
other people then seek medical attention speak to a healthcare professional there are also lots
of charities available for this as well and i'm going to leave loads of information about this
in the description below so if you're interested please do check it out and remember healthcare
professionals are there to help you no one will judge you we're always willing to listen so please
just contact your healthcare professional and seek for some help thank you for watching this video
i really hope that you found this information helpful you now know how alcohol is absorbed in
the body you now know the different variables of how it's broken down you now know all about
cytochromes and how the liver works and all the scientific stuff and you've become a bit of an
alcohol pro you know about how many units to have and how many units you shouldn't have and also the
risk factors of having too much alcohol so you've become a bit of an alcoholic beverage pro now
tell your friends tell your family tell your loved ones but please remember i'm going to say it again
if you've watched this video because you've had a drink and you're thinking of driving please
do not be responsible or remember that any amount of alcohol can affect your reflexes and it can be
a danger for yourself and other people so please be responsible if you've had any alcohol string
please do not drive thank you for watching this video as i always say always remember that you're
awesome and i will see you next week hey guys thanks for watching this week's video make sure
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