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BAC versus Time: The Widmark Curve

المؤلف:  Max M. Houck، Jay A. Siegel

المصدر:  Fundamentals of Forensic Science

الجزء والصفحة:  p370-371

2026-08-12

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BAC versus Time: The Widmark Curve

Assume that a 150 lb male imbibes the equivalent of 5 oz of 80 proof liquor all at once on an empty stomach. Absorption of alcohol would be quite rapid and he would reach a maximum of around 0.1% within about an hour. During that steep rise in the BAC, elimination would also start to take place after a while and the rate of increase in the BAC would start to slow. Then the BAC would start to drop, slowly at first, because absorption is still taking place to a lesser degree. Finally, after absorption is completed, the decrease in BAC would take place at a constant rate equal to the rate of metabolism in the liver until the BAC is zero. A plot of this BAC versus time is shown in the thinner line part of Figure 1. If the same man has to drink the same amount of alcohol in the same amount of time, but this time after eating a meal, the rate of absorption of alcohol would be much lower owing to the competition for absorption into the blood with the food and the fact that most of the absorption would be from the stomach. The time it would take to reach the maximum BAC would be longer and the maximum BAC would be lower because metabolism would be able to better keep up with absorption. The latter part of the elimination curve in this case would have the same shape and slope as the curve generated by the drinking on an empty stomach because it also reflects metabolism by the liver. This can be seen by the thicker line plot in Figure 1.

FIGURE 1 The Widmark curve. The thinner line graph represents the BAC level after drinking on an empty stomach whereas the thicker line represents the BAC level after a meal is eaten. You can see the effects of having food in the stomach before drinking. The same amount of alcohol is taken in each case. When food is already present, the maximum blood alcohol concentration is lower and takes longer to be reached than when drinking is done on an empty stomach.