A set of ethanol ingestion studies was designed to test the feasibility of collecting frequent blood samples to construct an ethanol tolerance curve. Three methods of analysis were tested - gas chromatography, an enzyme method and the breathalyser. There was poor correlation between the weight of the individual, and the blood alcohol concentration on a fixed intake of ethanol. The effect of food on the blood alcohol concentration gave conflicting results. The enzyme method used to estimate the blood alcohol concentration was unreliable but good correlation existed between the methods of gas chromatography and breathalyser. The studies indicated that only a small loading dose of ethanol can be regarded as safe in order to remain below the level of 905 grams per 100 mls blood (author/publisher).
Abstract