It is hard to say what has your new friends drinking so much, but it
is certainly not due to pickles.
20% of beverage alcohol is absorbed by the mouth and stomach, and the
remaining 80% absorbed in the small intestines. This is why it is
suggested that people not drink on an empty stomach as food delays
alcohols entrance into the small intestines. The National Restaurant
Association Bar Code training suggests using high protein/fatty foods
(pickles are not on the list) to slow absorbtion of alcohol by the
small intestines, but Alcohol will eventually run its course through
the body.
As well as rate of absorption, it the time frame over which it is
consumed. You liver can metabolize (on average) 1 drink per hour (1oz
100prf, 12oz beer, or 4oz wine). 7 shots over three hours would leave
4 in your system, which leaves most people over the legal limit.
In other alcohol safety training courses they use the HALT rule. You
should not drink when you are Hungry, Angry, Lonely, or Tired. This
points to a more important factor in how alcohol affects people and
that is the physical and mental state of drinker.
Along with mental state is the issue of 'tolerance'. People do
develop tolerances to the effects of alcohol, but there is also an
argument that it is related to expectations of behavior. After
several shots, the way one acts in his/er home may not be accetable in
a public bar, and s/he learns to handle his/her alcohol.
Alcohol is a difficult drug to predict--and the brief list of factors
above can have a tremendous impact on how people exhibit signs of
intoxication. BAC is a scientific measure of the quantity of alcohol
in blood, and a .08 look very different in different people. My guess
is that your new friends and you were drinking more slowly than usual
and in a new situation (and not trying to show thier intoxication).
Not to mention, the fact that you were drinking as well and drunkeness
tends to be relative. |
