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hubie [soylentnews.org] writes:

Research found while heavy drinkers could tolerate some alcohol better than light drinkers, that disappeared when the heavy drinkers drank their typical amounts [uchicago.edu]:

New research from the University of Chicago found that very heavy drinkers display the same impairment as light drinkers when consuming their usual excessive amount.

The study suggests that the concept of "holding your liquor" is more nuanced than commonly believed. They found heavy drinkers could tolerate some alcohol better than light drinkers, but that disappeared when the heavy drinkers drank their typical amounts.

"There's a lot of thinking that when experienced drinkers (those with alcohol use disorder) consume alcohol, they are tolerant to its impairing effects," said Andrea King, professor of psychiatry and behavioral neuroscience at UChicago and senior author of the study. "We supported that a bit, but with a lot of nuances. When they drank alcohol in our study at a dose similar to their usual drinking pattern, we saw significant impairments on both the fine motor and cognitive tests that was even more impairment than a light drinker gets at the intoxicating dose."

[...] For this study, they worked with three groups of adults in their 20s with different drinking patterns.

The groups were: light drinkers who do not binge-drink; heavy social drinkers who binge-drink several times a month (defined as consuming five or more drinks for a man or four or more for a woman); and drinkers who meet the criteria for alcohol use disorder and binge-drink 11 or more days in a typical month.

They had each group consume a set amount of alcohol and tested their performance on both a fine motor task and a paper-and-pencil cognitive skill test.

When given a standard intoxicating dose, which produce breathalyzer readings of 0.08%, the light drinkers were more impaired than the heavier drinkers.

Yet when those drinkers with alcohol use disorder consumed a higher amount, akin to their usual drinking habits, they showed significant impairment on those same tasks—more than double their impairment at the standard intoxicating dose. They did not return to baseline performance for at least three hours after drinking.

Their level of impairment even exceeded that of the light drinkers who consumed the standard dose, suggesting that the physical effects of the alcohol add up the more someone drinks, experienced or not.

"I was surprised at how much impairment that group had to that larger dose, because while it's 50% more than the first dose, we're seeing more than double the impairment," King said.

[...] "It's costly to our society for so many reasons, that's why this study is just so important to understand more," she said. "I'm hoping we can educate people who are experienced high-intensity drinkers who think that they're holding their liquor or that they're tolerant and won't experience accidents or injury from drinking. Their experience with alcohol only goes so far, and excessive drinkers account for most of the burden of alcohol-related accidents and injury in society. This is preventable with education and treatment."

Journal Reference:
Didier et al, Holding your liquor: Comparison of alcohol-induced psychomotor impairment in drinkers with and without alcohol use disorder. Alcohol: Clinical and Experimental Research, June 18, 2023. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/acer.15080 [doi.org]

Original Submission