Women must wait longer to drive after drinking alcohol than men because their bodies metabolize alcohol more slowly, a Stanford University chemistry professor recently told an audience at Fort Lewis College.
Alcohol’s effects on the human body was the subject of a recent lecture by Richard Zare, the Marguerite Blake Wilbur Professor in Natural Science.
He used the example of a person drinking three beers in a row and how long they’d have to wait to drive to be sure they were below the legal limit for drinking. His calculations for that, like other information he shared, required some chemical, mathematical and biological knowledge.
“It’s complicated, well, like most biology,” said Zare, who has earned many scientific awards including the National Medal of Science.
During his lecture, he talked about the important role of chemical kinetics. Though Zare used many formulas and calculations, the audience followed him. He also used jokes to keep things light.
Zare calculated the three-beer scenario to determine when a person could get in trouble for driving under the influence (DUI) or driving while ability impaired (DWAI). For a DUI, a person’s blood-alcohol concentration must be 0.08 percent or higher.
Zare’s calculations showed, even after three hours, the blood-alcohol concentration for a three-beer drinker is still 0.08 percent. “Now I understand why airplane pilots are not allowed to drink the night before the flight,” Zare commented. To be accused of a DWAI, a person’s blood-alcohol concentration must be between 0.05 and 0.08 percent – and that was the case after about four hours.
He explained why women are affected by alcohol longer than men: women metabolize alcohol slower because of their body size, body composition and their lower enzyme activity. The enzyme responsible for alcohol metabolism is aldehyde dehydrogenase. In women’s bodies, the enzyme is 40 percent less active than in men’s bodies.
Near the end of his presentation, Zare talked about a drinking line in film history: “Vodka Martini, shaken not stirred”. This James Bond quote is famous, though not many people know the difference between a shaken and a stirred vodka martini. Indeed, there is one.
“Stirring is an insufficient form of shaking,” Zare explained. Through shaking, the drink gets colder and changes its taste.
Thomas Feiler is a student at the Catholic University Eichstaett-Ingolstadt, Germany, and an intern at The Durango Herald.
