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November 14, 2008

Strange But True!

Q. From a Latrobe, Pennsylvania reader: “I know people who are quite thin, with little or no body fat. I am plump. When we drink the same amount of beer, they don't feel its effects or get drunk when I do. When they drink liquor, however, the effects seem equal. Why is this?”

A. There's no easy answer, since getting “smashed” is clearly multifaceted, with subjectivity and perception as obvious inputs, says California Polytechnic State University food scientist Brian Hampson. Different drinkers have different genetics, such as enzyme activity (e.g. alcohol dehydrogenase) for the removal of toxins (alcohols). The varying forms of these enzymes have a broad range of ability to detoxify. Some people remove the toxins in what almost seems to be “real time,” not getting intoxicated or not staying that way for very long. On the other hand, some people remove the toxins very slowly; thus the Japanese have a phrase, “mitsuka-yoi,” which literally translates as “third-day drunk,” because for some it takes that long to urinate all the toxins out through the kidneys when the enzymes do not work effectively in the liver.


 
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