Oh and one more thing dr bill, does excersise and water help my odds. And I read somewhere that the ethenal clock starts when you are at a bac of 0.. Is it from last drink? Thanks again

Exercise is way down the line. Food, eating before, during or after drinking is far more effective because it enhances blood flow to the liver. This applies to the metabolism of ethanol, whether food increases elimination of EtG has never been directly assessed. However, EtG is a liver metabolite.

If you have a reliable method for determining BAC such as breath-a-lyzer then BAC=0 can be helpful but not necessary. Most of the research uses last drink. Calculating BAC using a formula like Widmark is always imprecise and doesn't add much more than using last drink as the benchmark. In the long haul it is helpful information and adds a second check but individually adds little.

As EtG is water soluble it is well established that simply drinking moderate amounts of water confounds the test results.


Dahl, 2011

Ok, opposite question... I haven't drank in weeks, getting EtG tests every mon & thurs. how far back will they detect a little or a lot for court? Ex wacko will try anything.

Could you clarify your question for me?

The question is, how long back is EtG test in determining light or heavy drinking? For court. Zero drinking, but how far back will it prove or show any light or heavy drinking.

Lower amounts of alcohol are pretty well researched. In broad figures: 1 drink is detectable for under 24, 2 drinks under 36, up to 4 or 5 under 48. Once you get beyond that the figures aren't well defined Very heavy drinking, binge drinking, and drinking on consecutive days may be detectable near the 80 hour mark. The longer time spans are almost always derived from studies conducted in detox units, diagnosed chronic alcoholics.

The problem with EtG/EtS research is the small groups studied. Usually 1-10 individuals. That doesn't provide adequate information on which to reach broad conclusion on a population basis.

Thanks! Any sources for the above in smaller amounts? Not that I'll need it (I hope).

Sure.

A standard drink, 1 beer, 5 oz of wine, or 1.5 oz of liquor contains 14 g of absolute alcohol (PA).

A very informative study is by Wojcik & Hawthorne (2007) indicating that most consumption at 1-2 drinks is detectable for less than 24 hours. The number tested was 19. But it was a naturalistic setting.

1 drink (beer) 18.5 hr in Toxicology News [Article is not properly referenced]. Shows graph no data or citation also shows 3 glasses of wine.

2 drinks (22-28 g) .4 g/kg twice daily Involved 9 healthy females. This checked for accumulation of EtG following daily consumption. Sarkola (2003) Alcohol and Alcoholism

2 drinks (24 g) EtG levels maximally elevated within 3-8 h and above baseline for up to 39 h after a 24 g ethanol drink, and a dose-dependent increase in the percentage of ethanol excreted as EtG with increasing oral ethanol use. Abstract; Rosano & Lin 2008. 250 cutoff

2-3 drinks (.5 g/kg), range 25.0-41.5 g, of 5% beer, 30 minutes, in 6 healthy volunteers “The ethanol concentration returned to zero at 6.5 h, whereas EtG was still detectable for up to 22.5-31.5 h, albeit at low levels in the end (< 1 mg/l). Dahl (2002)

Dr Bill I have a urine test on Wednesday at 1pm. I drank Friday around 5 beers and Saturday around 5 beers and stopped at 11pm if I have a test Wednesday will I pass? This could be an EtG test. Its for a substance abuse evaluation court ordered because of a 1st time dui

I am somewhat in the same boat. However I'm due at rehab Thurs am. It's now Sunday night. Sat night I drank 2 super cans of beer. Friday I drank 10 beer and 2 on Thurs. I am freaking out now, and yes my own damn fault. But wondering if there's anyway I can still pass this test. I NEED rehab!

Hey Dr. Bill,

I had a couple of after work drinks on Thursday and stopped drinking by 6:30 P.M. and have not had anything to drink since then, will I pass an ETG test on Tuesday. I have not had anything else.

I drank 11 5.9% 12 ounce beers Thursday over a nine hour period from 10am to 7pm Im 5 10 190lbs and tested Monday at 10am and have done this several times and have passed all the EtG test