10 Crazy Things Booze Does To Your Body
2. Why Do Bubbles Go To Your Head?
That buzzy feeling you get from Champagne isn't just your imagination, fizzy alcoholic drinks really do get you drunk faster than their flat cousins. The feeling of bubbly "going straight to your head" has something to do with the bubbles themselves.
In an experiment at the University of Surrey in Guildford, 12 volunteers were given champagne. Half of them had it with complete the bubbles and half of them drank it after it had been de-carbonated with a whisk.
It was observed that the blood alcohol levels of the bubbly drinkers rose far quicker than those with the flat beverage. The scientists made sure that everybody consumed the same amount of alcohol per kilogram of body mass and even swapped the groups around in a separate test to ensure that the only difference was the bubbles in the drink.
It is thought that the bubbles in carbonated drinks create extra pressure in the stomach and this either forces the booze into the small intestine where it is absorbed more quickly, or even causes some of the alcohol to be absorbed in the stomach itself by forcing it through the lining.