Alcohol Elimination Rate and Body Mass Linked Directly in Women

28 Jun Alcohol Elimination Rate and Body Mass Linked Directly in Women

Obese females with lean body mass have better alcohol metabolization rates.

That’s right! If you have been bullying your bulky mates for consuming alcohol, you need to watch out. They might be better at eradicating the alcohol from their system than you.

The research outcomes of the new study by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign reveals that women’s lean body mass and age affects the rate at which their body eliminates alcohol.

The conclusive evidence links women’s lean body mass and how faster they eliminate alcohol from their bodies.

Link Between Lean Body Mass and Alcohol Elimination Rate in Women

The revelations made in the research busted a lot of myths and clarified the relationship between body mass and alcohol metabolism. Here’s the full detail of the study.

Basis of the Study

Alcohol has always been negatively linked to one’s health. From causing breast cancer to affecting fertility, it puts women’s fitness at greater risk.

But above all, alcohol consumption directly correlates to weight gain and damaging effects on the liver.

Contrary to the prevalent notion about alcohol and its effect on the liver and weight, this study finds a positive link between obesity, liver, and alcohol elimination.

As per what the research group leader M. Yanina Pepino, a professor of food science and human nutrition at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign says, lean body mass which is total body mass minus weight is strongly related to alcohol elimination rate because of its association with lean liver tissue which is again accountable for alcohol metabolization.

The study analyses the data and highlights the effect of considering women’s body composition while studying their alcohol metabolization ability.

Method of The Study

To investigate the correlation between body composition and alcohol elimination rates, the team regulates the secondary analysis of data.

For this, studies from the University of Illinois and Indiana University, Indianapolis were included. It is to be noted that both of them utilized the same methods to estimate the rate of disintegration of alcohol in the body.

Process Followed

The sample from the studies used for analysis included 143 women of age 21 to 64 years. These ladies represented a wide range of body masses varying from healthy weight to severe obesity.

(Out of these, 19 women have undergone different types of bariatric surgery for weight loss.)

Further, the researchers gauged the proportions of lean and fat tissue in 102 women and calculated their body mass indices.

Depending on the body masses, there was a further division of the women participants into 3 categories:

• Normal Weight: BMI ranging from 18.5-24.9
• Overweight: BMI ranging from 25-29.9
• Obese: BMI above 30

As per what the investigators expected, in comparison to women of healthy weight, women with higher BMI had more fat mass as well as lean mass.

For instance, the group of obese women had 52.3 kg of lean mass in comparison to normal-weight women with 47.5 kg.

Moreover, the studies used an alcohol clamp technique. The participants received an intravenous infusion of alcohol at a rate controlled by a computer system.

It individually estimated the personalized infusion rates based on each participant’s age, height, weight, and gender to accomplish the target blood alcohol concentration of 0.06% within 15 minutes and maintain it for 2 hours.

Adding to it, the breath samples were accumulated using a breathalyzer at regular intervals throughout the experiment to estimate the participant’s blood alcohol concentration.

Outcome of Research

As per Neda Seyedsadjadi, a postdoctoral fellow at the university and the first author of the study, the following were the discoveries in the study:

• Having a higher fat-free body mass is associated with a faster alcohol elimination rate.
• Women in the oldest subgroups showed higher rates of alcohol elimination.

As stated above, the alcohol elimination rate varied as per body composition. Therefore:

• The heavy-weight group showed an average alcohol elimination rate of 6 grams per hour
• The overweight group showed an average alcohol elimination rate of 7 grams per hour
• Women in the obesity group showed the highest average alcohol elimination rate of 9 grams per hour.

The interaction of age and lean body mass of the participants accounted for 72% of the variance in the time required for eliminating the alcohol from the system.

Moving on, the study further sheds light on body composition and alcohol metabolization among women with bariatric surgery. The findings of the study suggest that the slower alcohol metabolism rate among women with weight loss surgery can be because of surgery-induced reductions in their lean body mass.

The team further clears that the weight loss surgery has no direct or independent effect on the patient’s direct alcohol or metabolism rate.

Clearly, the study highlights the important insights about older women with obesity and how their fat-free lean body mass clears alcohol from their system at a 52% higher rate.

Final Discussion

Who could have thought about the role of genetic differences in alcohol metabolism?

Well, this recent study has attempted to make a huge change in the common notion about gender, age, body composition, and alcohol consumption all at once.

Where earlier alcohol consumption was always linked with obesity as its cause, it will now also be considered as something which allows the body to metabolize it faster.

Study Source, Published June 26, 2023 – Lean Body Mass, Age, and Alcohol Elimination Rate

Last Drink of the Day

This study by a team of researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign found a positive link between alcohol elimination rates, lean body mass, and age in females.

This gives a better understanding of the healthcare professionals in personalizing the alcohol consumption recommendations.

Indeed the findings are quite inquisitive and eye-opening in terms of “not judging the book with its covers”.

Nonetheless, we must not forget the other ill effects of alcohol consumption on the body. The popular beverage continues to be the reason behind mental illnesses, liver toxification, and even cancers.

So, don’t allow your obese nona to get “one more drink” just because she can metabolize it better!