Metabolic basis for recommending how to use alcohol.

The rational use of alcohol by healthy persons aims to achieve some degree of intoxication-the drug effect of alcohol. A pattern of drinking that does this while minimizing the undesired toxic effects of alcohol may be inferred from an analysis of the metabolism of alcohol and the mechanisms of its toxic effects. While the intoxicant effect of alcohol depends on the quantity in the circulatory blood level, the toxic effects, particularly in the liver, depend largely on the total dose and are independent of the speed of absorption into the blood. Standards may be developed for the use of alcoholic beverages by healthy persons, based on these considerations. For the average person, a dosage of alcohol providing 175 calories and taken before a meal is unlikely to have significant toxic effects.