Contra Oster on Alcohol in Pregnancy. Part 1. The pharmacokinetics of alcohol metabolism

According to LessWrong, a detailed critique challenges economist Emily Oster's twenty thirteen pregnancy guide, which recommended one to two drinks per week in early pregnancy. Oster argued that slow maternal metabolism prevents alcohol from reaching the fetus. But the analysis contends her biological model is flawed: blood alcohol levels rise after a single drink, proving absorption outpaces metabolism and the alcohol reaches fetal tissue. The author calculates that even one drink saturates the maternal enzymes responsible for alcohol breakdown in most women, meaning the fetus experiences prolonged exposure at levels higher than Oster's framework suggests.

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