# Drinking on an empty stomach? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 25, 2001, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drinking-on-an-empty-stomach/73790 "2001-07-25T20:54:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![danash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecc23a/32.png) [@danash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danash)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2001, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drinking-on-an-empty-stomach/73790/1 "2001-07-25T20:54:09Z")
Is there any scientific explanation why drinking on an empty stomach would get you more drunk than if you drank the same amount with a little food? Dan ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2001, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drinking-on-an-empty-stomach/73790/2 "2001-07-25T21:10:09Z")
When you have food in your stomach, it takes longer for the booze to be absorbed. You still ingest the same amount of alcohol if you drink on an empty stomach or not, it is just about the rapidity with which it gets into your bloodstream. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2001, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drinking-on-an-empty-stomach/73790/3 "2001-07-25T21:24:41Z")
A few years ago I read a newspaper about a research report that concluded “all else being equal, drinking on an empty stomach does not increase your BAC.” I would like to know more about this “research,” because it has been my experience that the following have a _significant_ effect on my “level of inebriated-ness”: - What you eat - How much you eat - How soon you start drinking after you eat ---
**Author:** ![Gaspode](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/aeb1de/32.png) [@Gaspode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gaspode)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2001, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drinking-on-an-empty-stomach/73790/4 "2001-07-25T22:23:59Z")
**Crafter** Like **adam** all those things you list will slow the rate of absorption of alcohol. Since feelings of inebriation come in part from how fast we get drunk you will feel less drunk on an empty stomach. This does not translate to a lower BAC an hour after you finish the final drink. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2001, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drinking-on-an-empty-stomach/73790/5 "2001-07-25T23:57:05Z")
The fastest I ever saw people get tipsy was when they had hot sake (Japanese alcoholic drink) while waiting for a meal. ---
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2001, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drinking-on-an-empty-stomach/73790/6 "2001-07-26T00:03:42Z")
Maybe I am an exception. When I was a dancer(and had to drink at work), I once went in at 2, after having had only one glass of orange juice that day. I soon had 5 snake-bites (I forget what they were made of) I was still sober. Maybe not legally, but I felt completely normal. ---
**Author:** ![Turbo\_Dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ce73a5/32.png) [@Turbo\_Dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turbo_Dog)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2001, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drinking-on-an-empty-stomach/73790/7 "2001-07-26T03:11:56Z")
What everyone else has said. You don’t get drunker, you simply get just as drunk faster. What has fascinated me though are those times when I’m incapable of getting “drunk”. Like vanilla, there are days when I can drink like a fish and feel nothing, yet there are days when, even after dinner, I have one glass of wine or one beer and feel totally looped. I’ve never understood that. ---
**Author:** ![WEW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8edcca/32.png) [@WEW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WEW)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2001, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drinking-on-an-empty-stomach/73790/8 "2001-07-26T03:30:59Z")
There are a lot of factors that affect the speed with which you get drunk, and the speed with which alcohol is absorbed. As to the OP. Alchol is absorbed fastest throught the small intestines. At the bottom of the stomach, just above the small intestines, is the pyloric valve. When the stomach is empty, the valve is open, so the booze goes straigth into the small intestine, and is quickly absorbed. With food present, the valve is closed, and the booze sits in the stomach, being absorbed at a slower rate, so it takes longer to feel the effect of each drink. Glee, hot drinks and carbonated drinks speed the absorption rate, so hot sake makes sense. Gaspode, that is not entirely true. Food slow the absorption rate, so by the time the second drink is absorbed, the first may be metabolized.