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Question

What is the amount of time it takes for alcohol to fully leave the body or to become undetected by a random alcohol test?

Answer

Alcohol is, on average, metabolized at the rate of 16 mg% (or .016 in more common terms) per hour. Some individuals process it more quickly and others more slowly. So if you have a peak blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .16 your body would take about 10 hours to completely metabolize that amount of alcohol.

However, how high your BAC gets is a function of your gender (females have higher BAC levels for a given body weight and percent body fat than do men), your weight and percent body fat (because alcohol isn't absorbed into fat), how much you drink, and how long you take to drink it. So this portion of the question is much more complex than how quickly a person metabolized alcohol.

09/16/98

Reid K. Hester, Ph.D.
Director, Research Division
Behavior Therapy Associates
3810 Osuna Rd NE Suite 1
Albuquerque, NM 87109
505.345.6100 ph
505.342.2454 fax
Behavioral Self-control Program for Windows