As the rise of alcohol free alternatives increases, you’ve probably come across alcohol free beer and non alcoholic beer, labelled “0.5% and under”.
We know there are benefits of alcohol free beer, but can you drink it all night, without getting drunk?
According to science, no, you can’t..
What Is Being Drunk?
Being tipsy is the first sign that the alcohol your drinking is taking an effect on your body.
When you're tipsy, you're more confident, chatty, relaxed, feeling of well-being. At this stage your blood alcohol content is 0.03–0.12%.
As you consume more drinks, you're entering the drunk stage. Where you might become emotionally unstable, like easily excited or saddened. You might also make bad judgement calls, or feel tired or drowsy. At this stage your blood alcohol content is 0.09–0.25%.
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But, when drinking alcohol free beer, it’s almost impossible for your blood alcohol content to reach 0.04%.
Can You Get Drunk On Non Alcoholic Beer & Alcohol Free Beer (Up To 0.5%)?
Short answer: If you’re a fit and healthy adult, you can’t get drunk on non alcoholic beer (up to 0.5%), despite if you drink 20 x 0.5% beers, which in theory equals to 10%
In this 2012 study, an experiment was performed on a total of 78 participants, of which they were asked to abstain from alcohol for five days, then drink 1.5l of non alcoholic beer within an hour.
Throughout the experiment, the researchers measured the participant’s blood alcohol content. The maximum blood alcohol content measured at 0.0056%.
To put things into perspective, this is 14 times lower than the drink driving limit in England - which the blood alcohol content is 0.08%
Why You Can't Get Drunk On Non Alcoholic Beer
When drinking alcohol free beer, your body processes the alcohol almost as quickly as you drink it - this is the main reason why your blood alcohol content can’t build up to a level that makes you feel drunk.
For example, a normal pint of 5% beer contains 3 units of alcohol, which takes around three hours to process. Compared to a pint of alcohol free beer (0.5%), which contains 0.28 units of alcohol, which will take around 15 minutes to process.