So Does Lining Your Stomach Before a Night Out ACTUALLY Work?

Probably best not to skip your dinner, tbh…

21 March, 2018
So Does Lining Your Stomach Before a Night Out ACTUALLY Work?

​We've all heard/used the phrase, "eating's cheating." But seeing as I'm not 18 years old anymore, I think it's about time I leave that in the past, and drink like an actual adult – ideally not on an empty stomach. My poor, old body can't take it anymore.

So it's good to see that I'm not doing this all in vain. It turns out there is actually a massive difference between what happens when you line your stomach before a night on the raz and what happens if you don't.

BBC 1 TV series The Truth Behind Alcohol took two people for a night out – one who had lined their stomach and one who had left their fate to the gods of getting-shitfaced-instead-of-having-dinner.

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Both of them drank a single large glass of white wine (ooooh, calm down…), but host Javid Abdelmoneim, an A&E doctor, had eaten a plate of roast chicken and vegetables beforehand. He'd also swallowed a teeny-tiny camera so we could see what was really going on inside him.

The footage showed that if your stomach is full of food, the booze gets held up, and takes longer to get into your system. 

But it's not just about the stomach, your liver is also affected by whether you line your stomach or not.

Crucially, the enzyme in the liver that does the job of processing the alcohol is actually also present in the lining of the stomach in small amounts. So if your stomach is full, the alcohol is kept there for longer and this lining can do some of the work that is usually just left for the liver to do.

The pair who took part in the experiment used a breathaliser throughout the evening to test the levels of blood in their systems.

Natalie – who believes eating's cheating (she doesn't really…), scored 44 20 minutes after drinking the wine, and Javid scored 23.

One hour later, they took their readings again and while Natalie's had gone down to 32, Javid's was just 15 – more than 50% less. 

So, please, please, please, have your tea before you head out tonight, yeah?

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Credit: Cosmopolitan
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