Wed, Mar-21-07, 12:21
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Registered Member
Posts: 4,909
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Plan: Atkins,PP - wgt in %
Stats: 100/96.8/69
BF:DWTK/DDare/JEnuf
Progress: 10%
Location: Vancouver Island, BC
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Ketones Could Trigger Low-End Alcohol Breathalyzers 8-(
Like the ones governing car ignitions...
Quote:
Sobering thought: don't diet and drive.
Bellinda Kontominas
March 19, 2007
PEOPLE on very low-calorie diets could be accused of drink driving, even if they have not had a drop.
The rare phenomenon is documented in the latest issue of the International Journal of Obesity.
Researchers at Sweden's Karolinska University Hospital were approached by a 59-year old non-drinker after he registered positive for alcohol when blowing into an in-car ignition interlocking device that would not allow him to drive.
As a glider pilot who supervised private aviation, the man had been surprised and upset about the positive result, which occurred while he was undergoing a weight loss program involving a very low calorie diet.
Researchers found the positive test to be the result of a chemical reaction that took place when fat was broken down at a fast rate.
When this happened, ketone bodies (acetone, acetoacetate and beta-hydroxybutyrate) were produced, which could then be converted to a secondary alcohol known as isopropanol, said the lead researcher, Wayne Jones, who is also on Sweden's National Board of Forensic Medicine.
Edward Ogden, clinical forensic scientist and senior research fellow at Melbourne's Swinburne University, said it was possible that sober people could blow a false-positive test, however they would not be charged with drink-driving.
Alcohol ignition interlock devices and roadside random breath testing units measure alcohol on the breath using fuel cells, which cannot distinguish between ethanol and isopropanol.
"But with any random breath test, the police would then invite you to the booze bus for a second test using an evidential instrument which measures the presence of alcohol on the breath in three different ways, including the use of infra-red at two different wavelengths," Dr Ogden said.
It was almost impossible that further testing would record a positive result, he said.
"From the point of view of a police prosecution, it's a non-issue, but if you happened to have an interlocking device, it may pose a problem," he said.
The NSW Police Director of Clinical Forensic Medicine, Anthony Moynham, said the possibility of the alcohol interlock device giving a false positive reading "cannot be discounted".
"This reported incident in one obese male subject in Sweden is interesting but not sufficient to change our thinking," he said.
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