How does a low carb diet cause a false-positive on an alcohol breathalizer test?
I know that a low carb diet causes energy to be created from fatty acids rather than glucose and that somewhere along the line ketones are created, which triggers the breathalizer. it is also the cause of severe diabetics to have the characteristic “sweet” breath. But what are the cellular mechanisms for this? I can’t find any legit resources, but think this would be an interesting topic for an O-Chem presentation. Thanks! A: The ethyl alcohol molecule is composed of two carbon, one oxygen and six hydrogen atoms. Because of the mass of the atoms and the strength of the bond between the atoms, it absorbs light at a particular energy level. In the case of infrared alcohol breath testing instruments, light with a wavelength of about 3.39μ is used because it is absorbed by the bond between the two carbon atoms. In reality, the instruments are measuring the vibration of the methyl tail of the alcohol molecule. A significant problem in measuring ethyl alcohol with infrared absorption is the
