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In March 2008, BACZONE Ltd changed its BAC formula to take into account some changes in the BAC calculations used by agencies of the federal government. Our formula is now somewhat more “conservative” in its predictions about the level of blood alcohol concentration and how long it takes for alcohol to be metabolized. Our current formula is based on a modified Widmark formula that is used by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.  This formula uses a more conservative “burn off” rate or rate at which alcohol is metabolized, than some of the other formulas used in other alcohol education products.

The other major change to our formula is the measure of what is called a “standard drink.”  The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism  has revised their definition of a standard drink to be .6ozs of pure alcohol

http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/Practitioner/pocketguide/pocket_guide2.htm instead of .5oz, so we revised our formula to reflect this change. Using .6oz as a standard drink corresponds to a 12 oz beer with 5% alcohol, 5ozs of wine with 12% alcohol, and a 1.5 oz shot of 40% alcohol.

A number of studies have shown that drinkers tend to underestimate the amount of alcohol in their drinks. We believe that the BAC estimates generated by the changes in our formula, while perhaps higher than some of those generated by other products, will help individuals make safer, and lower risk choices.