High School

Is drinking 750ml of whiskey a binge drinker?

Answer :

Binge drinking is generally defined by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) as a pattern of drinking that brings a person's blood alcohol concentration (BAC) to 0.08% or higher. This typically happens when men consume five or more drinks, and women consume four or more drinks, in about two hours.

In terms of measuring alcohol consumption, a standard drink in the United States contains about 14 grams (0.6 ounces) of pure alcohol. This is roughly equivalent to:

  1. 12 ounces of beer with about 5% alcohol content

  2. 5 ounces of wine with about 12% alcohol content

  3. 1.5 ounces of distilled spirits (like whiskey) with about 40% alcohol content

Assessing 750ml of Whiskey:

Given that whiskey typically has an alcohol content of about 40%, let's calculate how many standard drinks are in 750ml of whiskey.

  1. Determine the amount of pure alcohol in 750ml of whiskey:

    [tex]750 \text{ ml} \times 0.40 = 300 \text{ ml of pure alcohol}[/tex]

  2. Convert ml of pure alcohol to grams:

    The density of pure ethanol is approximately 0.789 grams/ml.

    [tex]300 \text{ ml} \times 0.789 = 236.7 \text{ grams of pure alcohol}[/tex]

  3. Calculate the number of standard drinks:

    Since a standard drink contains 14 grams of pure alcohol:

    [tex]\frac{236.7}{14} \approx 16.9 \text{ standard drinks}[/tex]

Therefore, consuming 750ml of whiskey, which is approximately 17 standard drinks, is far beyond the threshold for binge drinking for both men and women. This amount of alcohol consumption could pose serious health risks and should be avoided.

If you or someone you know is considering or engaging in such drinking patterns, it’s important to seek help and guidance from a healthcare professional.