Is there a fixed therapeutic index of alcohol?

Question

Drugs have a thereapeutic index. That is, a minimal effective dose and maximum safe dose, with the dose in between being known as the therapeutic window. Does alcohol have this?

Answer 1

course it does, but i dont know what it is...but that's what the police keep checking, if a driver has alcohol in his blood more than a certain allowed level, its problematic...

but if you're askin if there is a fixed theraputic index for beer, wine, vodka etc. then no...these do not have a theraputic index because no matter how much all these alcoholics wish for it, beer is never going to become a medicine, cept for people who are severly underweight...

Answer 2

Ethanol has bioavailability of ~100%, meaning 100% of ethanol ingested reached the systemic circulation, which is due to the molecule's hydrophilic properties.

Mild intoxication occurs when plasma concentrations reach approx 1mg/ml. In order to reach this level of toxicity, 42g/56ml of pure ethanol must be ingested. This is approximately 120ml of a strong alcoholic drink e.g. whiskey.

Ethanol has a constant rate of elimination, making it potentially dangerous, as unlike many other substances, a higher concentration does not affect the rate of elimination. The constant rate of elimination is approx 10ml/h. Therefore to maintain the state of mild intoxication, one must consume 10ml/h of pure ethanol, or 20ml/hr of a strong drink.

Hope this helps!

Answer 3

Firstly,

It would be dependent upon your body composition and size and weight.

Secondly, about the only therapeutic uses for ETOH that I'm aware of are for lowering blood cholesterol and reducing pulmonary edema. Not used much in pulmonary edema anymore but I think  very effective when nebulized.

Good luck!

p.s: I hate to be the party killer, but the best policy is to avoid consumption of ETOH if at all possible....benefit to risk ratio is LOW. We're talking about multiple organ systems here and nothing does the damage like ETOH.