We’ve been down this path before, as I lie pretty hungover trying to use food as a crutch to recuperate me. The ugly topic of alcohol tolerance has again reared its head, I mean, after the age of 16 who genuinely cares how much alcohol one can imbibe? I’ve already learnt about tolerance and how it degrades based on abstinence but this time we were considering why more rounded individuals (read: fat) are more capable of tolerating large amounts of booze than more athletic and sculpted individuals?
Essentially it comes down to your BAC (or blood alcohol content). BAC is the total amount of alcohol consumed divided by total body water. Alcohol has a high affinity with water so when you drink, alcohol obviously fills your blood stream and is distributed to areas that have high water content. When looking at body composition, muscles actually contain more water than fat cells, and as a result alcohol is more easily distributed around someone who has a high level of muscle as opposed to fat as the water levels in the body of the fat man are much smaller. It is important to stress, however, that this is a body composition aspect so can only be applied to two people of the same weight who have different body composition.
This doesn’t disprove my initial consideration though. Whereas it is true of body composition, overall weight is a different story. Two people of similar body composition (ie. Fat to muscle to bone ratio) but of different weights will have different reactions. The lighter person will be affected more by the same level of alcohol and this is typically what we see in social groups where bigger individuals cope better with alcohol.
This probably explains why my alcohol tolerance has pretty much stayed the same in the last four years whilst going from 17 ½ stone (with more fat) to 14 stone (with more muscle). Good to know I can keep on trucking.
DC
Today I Learnt..... 