Gratytshrk_at_aol.com wrote: > I had an environmental chemist tell me that the body catabolizes alcohol into > Formaldehyde. Sounds like a complete crock to me but has anyone else heard > this? Not a complete crock, only half a crock. The "alcohol" in alcoholic beverages is a two-carbon alcohol (aka ethyl alcohol, ethanol, grain alcohol, booze, hootch, etc.). When metabolized, it is converted (transiently) into acetaldehyde, a two-carbon aldehyde. Acetaldehyde's toxicity is miniscule relative to formaldehyde, partly due to the fact that formaldehyde is eventually metabolized to formic acid, the same stuff in ant stings. Alcohol pauses at acetaldehyde on its way to acetic acid, the stuff in vinegar. Acetic acid is food to your body. You will get fat from overconsuming alcohol, dudes and dudettes! [Today's chemical trivia: in "ancient" times, it was SOP to obtain small amounts of formic acid by heating up a flask of ants and condensing the vapors.] If Peyton's water tastes funny because of formaldehyde leaching away from casketized human remains, they have to be IN the Mississippi, because formaldehyde is so reactive it should quickly combine chemically with materials in the surrounding soil and be deactivated (unless we are talking about ppb or ppt levels). Yeah, I know, lots more than you wanted to know. Mandatory paddling content: formaldehyde is one of the ingredients of the glues used in marine plywood in stitch and glue yaks. -- Dave Kruger Astoria, OR sea kayaker organic chemist *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Tue Jul 20 1999 - 16:44:24 PDT
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