14 DAY TRIAL // Alcohol, even in small quantities, alters a person's dexterity, suggests a new study carried out by team of researchers from Sint Maartenskliniek, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
They carried out an experiment on 13 healthy men and women, of an average age of 61.5-62 years old, who had consumed two vodka and orange drinks each.
The first experiment consisted in making the volunteers walk on a treadmill, and once they had attained a firm walking pace, the scientists placed a small wooden block at the far end of the belt which moved toward the volunteer.
The capacity of the subjects to step over this obstacle allowed scientists to measure how strong were the effects of alcohol.
Hegeman said, “that alcohol levels, considered to be safe for driving, seriously hamper the ability to successfully avoid sudden obstacles in the travel path.
“A possible limitation of this study is the relatively small sample size, however even with the small number, it yielded an unequivocal outcome.”
The experiment showed that just two single vodka and orange drinks managed to make senior volunteers struggle to avoid the obstacle while walking.
“The results clearly show that even with low blood alcohol concentrations, reactions to sudden gait perturbations are seriously affected,” said Judith Hegeman, who worked with the researchers.
“After ingestion of 2 alcoholic drinks, obstacles were hit twice as often, response times were delayed and response amplitudes were reduced.
“These changes were most obvious in situations with little available response time,” she added.
Alcohol use is spread worldwide as it is accepted as a social drug, but driving under influence is extremely dangerous for all traffic participants.
In the name of road safety, there are legal limits for blood alcohol concentration, or BAC, and driving.
In most European countries the limit is at 0.05% and in the United States, Canada and the UK, it is 0.085.
The problem is that even at these low concentration levels, brain function can be affected and the risk of falling increases.
This research can be found in the open access journal BMC Research Notes.