Unlike food, alcohol requires no digestion by your body. Although, sadly, this does not mean that beverages and liquors come without calories and fat. As a matter of fact, how our body processes alcohol, and the alcohols makeup, determines everything about how we feel during and after drinking.
Unlike food, alcohol requires no digestion by your body. Although, sadly, this does not mean that beverages and liquors come without calories and fat. As a matter of fact, how our body processes alcohol, and the alcohols makeup, determines everything about how we feel during and after drinking.
Shockingly, only 20% of the alcohol you drink even passes through your stomach like food would. However, this 20% is the portion that can reach the brain in less than one minute. The other 80% of alcohol consumed passes through the duodenum (small intestine), then through membranes and directly into the bloodstream. Upon entering the bloodstream, alcohol quickly gets distributed to organs throughout the entire body. So why do people react so differently to drinking if we technically process alcohol the same way? Why do hangovers hurt so badly? And how do we make the day after drinking less awful, especially as we age?