Blood Tests: Why a Hospital Test is Suspect.
Hospital laboratory testing of serum alcohol involves use of the enzymatic method. The enzyme kits do not measure alcohol directly. They oxidize alcohol to acetaldehyde by the reduction of NAD+ to NADH. The amount of NADH produced
is therefore a function of the amount of alcohol present in the sample, and the amount of NADH produced is measured via a color reaction. However, if the blood also contains high levels of lactate (lactic acid) from either the administration of Ringer’s Lactate or the release of lactate from damaged tissues and also high levels of LDH (lactate dehydrogenase) enzyme from damaged tissues, then it is possible that the NAD+ from the enzyme kits will also oxidize of lactate to pyruvate, thereby also producing NADH which would appear as “alcohol” in the test results. Therefore, it may be possible to have falsely high alcohol test results from serum alcohol tests using these hospital enzyme kits if both lactate and LDH are in high concentrations in the blood.
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