In 1631, during the Thirty Years War, the city of Rothenburg-ob-der Tauber was besieged and captured by Catholic forces under the command of Johan Tzerclaes von Tilly. He threatened to execute the city councilors and destroy the city. At that moment, the Pokal, a huge ceremonial container, was then filled to the brim with the city's best wine. This drinking vessel, which held three liters, was passed around and around in celebration by General Tilly and his staff, but some wine remained, even after repeated rounds of drinking. It was then the General decided on a whim to spare the city if one Rothenburger could drink in one draught the contents of the Pokal, and who would be willing to do so, knowing that the wine was poisoned. The former mayor, Georg Nusch, accepted the challenge and downed the three liters of wine. He then passed out and slept for three days, but survived. (Note: the wine was not poisoned, since no one would have wanted to ruin the wine and have it left over had the challenge failed).

Questions:

8.1 What is the absorption and distribution of ethanol?

Ethanol is directly and efficiently absorbed from the GI tract, beginning in the stomach, and virtually all would be absorbed in an hour.

8.2 If the standard German Riesling (a white wine) is 12% alcohol by volume, what would be Mayor Nusch's blood alcohol an hour following the challenge? Calculate values for a standard 70 kg man, an athletic 90 kg man, and a corpulent 110 kg man.

3000 mL of wine X 0.12 = 360 mL of ethanol

(1 ounce of ethanol = 29.57 mL of ethanol)

1 mL of ethanol = 791 mg of ethanol (the specific gravity of ethanol is 0.791)

360 mL of ethanol = 294,907 mg of ethanol

If Mayor Nusch is 70 kg, then at 60% body water (50% for a woman) his total body water compartment is 42 L, or 420 dL, and the ethanol is distributed as 702 mg/dL. Since blood is about 80% water, the blood ethanol concentration is 562 mg/dL, or 0.56 gm%.

If Mayor Nusch is 90 kg, but with lower body fat, then at 65% body water his total body water compartment is 58.5 L, or 585 dL, and the ethanol is distributed as 504 mg/dL. Since blood is about 80% water, the blood ethanol concentration is 403 mg/dL, or 0.40 gm%.

If Mayor Nusch is a very corpulent 110 kg, but at 50% body water due to higher body fat, his total body water compartment is 55 L, or 550 dL, and the ethanol is distributed as 536 mg/dL. Since blood is about 80% water, the blood ethanol concentration is 429 mg/dL, or 0.43 gm%.

8.3 What would his blood alcohol level be a day later?

The average person can metabolize 15 mg/dL of ethanol per hour (0.015 gm%), and this is rate-limited (zero order kinetics) by the amount of hepatic alcohol dehydrogenase. Heavy drinkers might be able to metabolize as much as 30 mg/dL/hr. About 95% of ethanol in the body is metabolized, about 1 to 3% excreted in urine, and about 1 to 5% exhaled through the lungs.

Thus, after a day, the large Mayor Nusch can metabolize off enough ethanol to reduce the blood level at least 0.36 gm%.

Moral of the story: the largest person (male) has the best chance of drinking the most ethanol and surviving.