Maximum blood ethanol concentration after forced consumption of non-alcoholic beer

In recent years sales of non-alcoholic beer have constantly increased. In Germany, so-called non-alcoholic beer may still have an ethanol content of up to 0.5% (by volume). This marginal amount of ethanol might have negative implications for certain groups of persons such as novice drivers. So far no reliable data regarding the blood ethanol concentration after consumption of non-alcoholic beer have been published. Therefore, a drinking experiment was performed as follows: after 5 days of abstinence from ethanol 78 test persons were asked to drink 1.5 l of non-alcoholic beer (ethanol content 0.41-0.42%) within 1 h. Blood samples were taken on a regular basis and analyzed for ethanol by headspace gas chromatography-flame ionization detection (HS-GC-FID). A total of 67 data sets could be interpreted and in 20 test persons ethanol was detected in blood with a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.0005 g/l. The maximum blood ethanol concentration was 0.0056aEuro degrees. The results of the study suggest that even after consumption of unrealistically high amounts of non-alcoholic beer negative forensic implications are not to be expected.