The quantity of alcohol in the blood after drinking alcoholic drinks not only depends on the type of drink, but also on individual factors, including sex and body weight. Alcohol levels are the lowest with beer.

After drinking spirits the alcohol level (the alcohol blood level) is higher than after drinking the same quantity of beer. In an 80 kg person the alcohol level will be lower than in someone of 50 kg, after enjoying the same quantity of drink. The alcohol blood level rises faster in women than in men.

Differences between individuals

Sex

Even if a man and a woman have exactly the same body weight and drink precisely the same quantity of alcoholic drinks, the alcohol level will be higher in the woman than in the man.

Body weight

Drinking the same quantity of alcohol will yield a higher alcohol blood level for a man with a low body weight than for a bigger man. The same applies to women: when drinking the same quantity of alcohol the body weight will play a role in the article permillage (quantity of alcohol in the blood expressed in permille).

Tabel 1: Alcohol permillage (‰) per number of glasses of beer per hour for men with a body weight of 60 kg and 80 kg respectively.
number of glasses	permillage after 2 hours		permillage after 3 hours		permillage after 4 hours		permillage after 12 hours
	55kg	70kg	55kg	70kg	55kg	70kg	55kg	70kg
2	0,5	0,3	0,4	0,2	0,2	0	0	0
3	0,5	0,3	0,3	0,2	0,2	0	0	0
4	0,7	0,5	0,6	0,3	0,4	0,2	0	0
5	1,0	0,7	0,8	0,5	0,7	0,4	0	0
6	1,2	0,8	1,0	0,7	0,9	0,5	0	0
7	1,4	1,0	1,3	0,9	1,1	0,7	0	0
8	1,7	1,2	1,5	1,1	1,4	0,9	0	0
9	1,9	1,4	1,8	1,2	1,6	1,1	0,4	0
10	2,2	1,6	3,0	1,6	1,9	1,3	0,7	0
*Source: Institute of Road Safety

tabel 2: Alcohol permillage (‰) per number of glasses of beer per hour for women with a body weight of 55 kg and 70 kg respectively.td>
number of glasses	permillage after 2 hours		permillage after 3 hours		permillage after 4 hours		permillage after 12 hours
	55kg	70kg	55kg	70kg	55kg	70kg	55kg	70kg
2	0,5	0,3	0,4	0,2	0,2	0	0	0
3	0,9	0,6	0,7	0,5	0,6	0,3	0	0
4	1,2	0,9	1,1	0,8	0,9	0,6	0	0
5	1,6	1,2	1,4	1,1	1,3	0,9	0	0
6	2,0	1,5	1,8	1,3	1,7	1,2	0,5	0,3
7	2,3	1,8	2,2	1,6	2,0	0,5	0,8	0,6
8	2,7	2,1	2,5	1,9	2,4	1,8	1,2	0,8
9	3,0	2,3	2,9	2,2	2,7	2,0	1,5	1,1
10	3,4	2,6	3,3	2,5	3,1	2,3	1,9	1,6
* Source: Institute of Road Safety

Note:
In addition to sex and body weight, alcohol levels are also influenced to a lesser extent by:

• The type of the alcoholic drink;
• The speed of digestion;
• Other individual differences;

The above tables show the alcohol levels after drinking beer. After drinking wine or spirits the alcohol level is higher than after drinking beer.

25 cl beer contains 12.5 ml ethanol
20 cl wine contains 20 to 22 ml ethanol
15 cl port contains 30 ml ethanol