Why 0.5% Drinks Can't Get You Drunk

Metabolism And Micro Doses Of Alcohol

Everyday Foods With Trace Alcohol

SPEAKER_00 0:39

Welcome to Mindful Drinking and Moderation in Midlife Drinks 101, where in just a couple of minutes each week I help make low-no and light alcohol drinks make sense. Today we're looking at whether 0.5% alcohol drinks can get you drunk. Are they really alcohol free? First off, we have to look quickly at how the labeling of low-no drinks works. So here in the UK, alcohol-free drinks are any drink up to 0.05% ABV. And I will cover ABV, which is alcohol by volume, in more detail in another Drinks 101 episode. But a lot of countries that we import our drinks from, including the US, Portugal, Germany, Belgium, and others, label alcohol-free drinks as any drink up to 0.5% ABV. That is 10 times more alcohol per drink. So should you be worried? In short, no. While 0.5% drinks are 10 times higher than those made domestically and labelled as alcohol free, they still don't contain enough alcohol to get you drunk in any way, shape, or form. How do we know? Well, a German study in 2012 of 67 adults who had been asked to abstain from alcohol for five days were then each given 1.5 litres of a 0.4% beer to drink over the course of an hour. During the study, the researchers tested their blood throughout, and the highest their blood alcohol concentration ever reached was 0.0056%, which is seven times lower than the level at which most people start to feel the minor effects of alcohol after, say, your first drink. Since the 2012 study, continued research has looked into 0.5% drinks, and all have found that there is no notable physiological effect on the healthy adult human body from 0.5% drinks. So why is that? Your body is a pretty awesome place. And while alcohol is treated as a toxin that needs immediate removal, your metabolism works fast enough that a 0.5% drink gets processed and removed long before it has any chance to get you even the slightest bit tiddled. So is there anyone who should avoid a 0.5% drink? If your reasons for avoiding alcohol are medical, such as an allergy, or religious, then by all means give them a wide berth. And of course, if you are in recovery from alcohol dependency or alcohol use disorder, then these drinks can either be an amazing tool. Some people have said that they have saved their life to know that they can have an alcohol-free beer instead of a false drink one. However, others have said that they find them to be a trigger that leads them to want to drink more. So if you're in a case of alcohol use disorder, then I would definitely say to speak to your support network before you start using them. I'm not trying to encourage anybody to start doing something that they don't feel is going to serve them well. But for everyone else, those of us who are moderating, trying to drink more mindfully, cutting back a little bit, there's absolutely no reason to be wary of a 0.5% drink over a 0.05% one. In fact, you eat and drink many, many foods daily which contain as much, if not more, alcohol than a 0.5% beer or sparkling wine. We've all heard about the banana comparison, but there are many more. And in episode 76, Beyond Bananas, 12 everyday foods that contain alcohol, you can find out where the hidden but harmless alcohol lives in your kitchen. I will link to it in the show notes for you, of course, where you'll also find my email address if you'd like to send me a question to answer on another drinks 101, or you can use the snazzy uh text message thing at the top. Uh, next time, why aren't there more AF beers on draft? Until then, cheers to a life less intoxicated.