Distribution of Ethanol Alcohol

Alcohol has a high affinity for water and is therefore found in blood, urine, saliva and any other body tissue that contains water. The blood carries the absorbed alcohol to the various organs and tissues of the body and will deposit alcohol in proportion to the water content of the various organs and tissues. The more water - the more alcohol. The brain has high water content so it receives a substantial share of the distributed alcohol. Muscle tissue also has a relatively high water content, but fat tissue contains very little water, so very little alcohol is distributed to fatty tissue. Thus, assume 2 people of equal size with markedly different amounts of fatty tissue consume precisely the same amount of alcohol under the same circumstances, the one with more fatty tissue will rise higher because there is less water in which to distribute the alcohol - so the concentration of alcohol will be higher. This is an important consideration when dealing with gender differences, because generally speaking, women have more fatty tissue than men.

Below is a table showing the distribution ratios for alcohol in body fluids and tissues compared to that in whole blood - which has been assigned a value of 1.00.

Distribution Ratios Relative to Whole Blood

The Wilson Law Firm
DUI, Criminal & Traffic Defense ...When Results Matter

We have helped thousands of clients - and we can help you, too.

(703) 361-6100 / (540) 347-4944

Toll Free
(888) DUI-LWYR
(888) 384-5997

The lawyers of The Wilson Law Firm have traveled Virginia’s several interstates helping clients just like you - appearing in courts all across the Commonwealth of Virgnia - from Virginia Beach and Norfolk in the southeast, to Wise County in the southwest, all the way up I-81 to Frederick County / Winchester in the northwest, and all the way across Warren County, Fauquier County, Prince William County, and Fairfax County on the way to Arlington County and the City of Alexandria in the northeast. The Wilson Law Firm regularly serves Prince William County, the cities of Manassas and Manassas Park, the towns of Haymarket and Quantico, Fauquier County / Warrenton, Stafford County, Spotsylvania County / Fredericksburg, Loudoun County / Leesburg, Fairfax City, Fairfax County, Arlington County, the City of Alexandria, Culpeper County, Warren County / Front Royal, Clark County / Berryville and Shenandoah County.