LOW ALCOHOL BEERS AND LAGERS AND BLOOD ALCOHOL LEVELS Ronald C. Denney Oniversity of Greenwich, London, SE1B 6PF, England 1. InLroduction Much confusion has arisen in recent years in the United Kingdom from the sales of what have become known as NABLABS (nonalcoholic and low alcohol beers and lagers). This is due to the fact that they range in alcohol content from virtually zero to 1.25/a alcohol by volume (ABV). In a number of court cases defendants have claimed that they were over the U.K. legal blood alcohol limit of 80 mg per 1GD ml (0.8 promille) due to drinking NABLABS. From 1st January 1993 in the United Kingdom an alcohol free beer or lager will be one containing between 0.0% and 0.5% ABV, whilst a low alcohol drink will be one within the range 0.5% to 1.2% ABV. typical NABLAB alcohol contents at present available in the U.K. are given in Table I. TYPICAL NABLABS Näme Alcohol by Volume St. Christopher 0.05% Barbican 0.05% Kaliber 0.05% Clausthaler 0.5% Germania 0.8% Carlton 0.9% Swan Light 1.0% White Label 1.0% Tennents LA 1.2% Table I 1506 Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety - T92 Ed. by Utzelmann / Berghaus / Kroj Verlag TÜV Rheinland GmbH, Köln -1993
2. Theoretical Blood Alcohol Values From NABLABS It is possible to obtain a theoretical idea of the possible blood alcohol level likely to arise as a result of drinking different NABLABs, by carrying out calculations using the standard Widmark factors and equations (1). This has been done for three different NABLABS containing 0.5% ABV, 0.9?o ABV and 1.2?g ABV respectively. These are applicable to 70 kg (11 stone) men and 57 kg (9 stone) women. It is assumed that all alcohol is drunk within a period of 30 minutes, that total absorption of alcohol into the bloodstream has occurred, and figures are calculated for 30 minutes after drinking has ceased. The following results are to be expected: THEORETICAL BLOOD ALCOHOL LEVELS FROH 0.5S ABV ( e. g. CLAUSTHALER) volume drunk men women 1 pint 0 mg 0 mg 2 pints 0 mg 0 mg 3 pints 0 mg 6.3 mg 4 pints 3.8 mg 13.4 mg 5 pints 8.5 mg 20.5 mg 6 pints 13.2 mg 27.6 mg 7 pints 19.9 mg 34.7 mg 8 pints 22.6 mg 41.8 mg 9 pints 27.3 mg 48.9 mg 10 pints 32.0 mg 57.0 mg 15 pints 63.5 mg 91.5 mg 20 pints 79.0 mg 127.0 mg Table II 1507
0. 9% ABV ( e.g. CARLTON) volume drunk men women 1 pint 0 mg 0 mg 2 pints 2.0 mg 10.6 mg 3 pints 10.5 mg 23.4 mg 4 pints 19.0 mg 36.2 mg 5 pints 27.5 mg 49.0 mg 6 pints 36.0 mg 61.8 mg 7 pints 44.5 mg 74.6 mg 8 pints 53.0 mg 87.4 mg 9 pints 61.5 mg 100.2 mg 10 pints 70.0 mg 113.0 mg 11 pints 78.5 mg 125.8 mg 12 pints 87.0 mg 138.6 mg Table III 1.2% ABV ( e.q. TENNENTS LA) volume drunk men women 1 pint 0 mg 2.1 mg 2 pints 7.6 mg 19.2 mg 3 pints 18.9 mg 36.3 mg 4 pints 30.2 mg 53.4 mg 5 pints 41.5 mg 70.5 mg 6 pints 52.8 mg 87.6 mg 7 pints 64.1 mg 104.1 mg 8 pints 75.4 mg 121.2 mg T able IV 1508
These calculations show that any suggestion that a moderate volume of NABLABS can be responsible for putting a driver over the legal limit is ridiculous, as even with a 1.2% ABV lager a man would have to drink more than 4.5 litres (8 pints) within 30 minutes and a woman would have to drink more than 3 litres (5 pints) in order to exceed a blood alcohol level of 80 mg per 100 ml (0.8 promille). Because of the overwhelming nature of these calculated figures it was felt that there was a need to put a practical aspect to the work for possible reference in court cases. 3. Experimental A programme of study has been initiated to look at both short term and longer term features resulting from the drinking of NABLABS. The study to date has been carried out with 4 men of weights ranging from 70 to 83 kg and two women with weights of 54 and 56 kg respectively. The subjects were required to drink as much NABLAB (in this first study 0.5% ABV Clausthaler) as possible up to a maximum of 2 litres within a period of 45 minutes. They were then breath tested on a Lion Intoximeter 3000 evidential breath testing machine 15 minutes after they had finished their last drinks. As a comparison, a similar test was carried out using subjects of similar weight to those in the above test. They were required to drink similar quantities of a normal strength lager (3.4% ABV Harp Lager). All subjects stated that they could not have drunk the lagers at a faster or greater rate than they had done, and were of the opinion that under normal circumstances 1.7 litres (3 pints) within an hour would be well above a normal drinking rate. 4. Results The results obtained for 0.5% ABV Clausthaler are shown in Table V. None of the subjects recorded a blood (breath) alcohol value above zero despite the large volumes consumed in a short space of time. The contrasting results obtained with 3.4% ABV Harp Lager are shown in Table VI. In this set of results the recorded alcohol levels are well in line with what would be expected from the volumes of lager that were drunk. 1509
0.5S ABV (CLAUSTHALER) Sex Weight Volume Drunk Result st. kg. pints litres mg. M 11 70 3 1.7 0 M 11* 73 3 1.7 0 M 12 76 3 1.7 0 M 13 83 3 1.7 0 F F CO K\W- CO 54 21 1.6 0 56 2* 1.4 0 Table V 3. AS ABV (HARP LAGER) Sex Weight Volume Drunk Result st. k g. pints litres mg. M 11i 72 3 1.7 85 M 11* 73 3 1.7 76 M 12 76 3 1.7 62 M 13 83 3 1.7 55 F 8 51 CM 1.4 92 F CO 54 3 1.7 81 Table VI 1510
ftlcoh ol mg/100 ml B lood 1511
An additional study was carried out to confirm that there were no long term or delayed effects from the drinking of NABLABS. For this purpose the blood alcohol level was monitored over a period of 4 hours for subjects who had only drunk the alcoholic lager or low alcohol Clauthaler. These results are presented graphically in Figure 1. 5. Conclusions The calculations originally carried out indicated that the U.K. legal limit of 80 mg per 100 ml (0.8 promille) could only be attained in average weight men and women by the drinking of substantial quantities of low alcohol lagers, but that there is a great difference between the volume of 0.5% ABV lager and one at the upper end of the NABLAB range containing 1.2% ABV. The justification for the British Government classifying drinks with ABV's below 0.5% as non-alcoholic has been shown to be justified by the experimental results in which the volumes of Clausthaler drunk within 45 minutes by different people always produced blood alcohol levels of zero. It has been suggested (2) that the alcohol content of such drinks is so low that all alcohol is probably metabolised within the stomach and never really reaches the bloodstream or the liver. The longer study of the effect of NABLABS over 4 hours does show that there is no delayed build up or development of blood alcohol levels. 6. References 1. H. J. Walls & Brownlie, 'Drinks, Drugs & Driving', 2nd edn., (1985), pp. 13-15. Sweet & Maxwell, London. 2. P. M. Williams, Lion Laboratories Ltd., (1992). 1512