Advantages of the liquid diet or voluntary drinking models are that the techniques are simple, less time consuming, and less labor intensive when compared to other methods. There is also much less handling of the animals associated with these procedures (a source of stress) and there is less risk of fatality. Disadvantages result because this method does not allow for the precise control over dosage or timing of ethanol exposure and this can lead to increased variability in the BAC achieved, as ethanol consumption depends on voluntary food consumption throughout the day. For example, a study by Mankes et al. (92) found that ethanol consumption of a group of 221 rats fed a liquid diet ranged anywhere between 4 and 18 g/kg/day depending on that rat (92). It is also important to remember that the liquid diet or voluntary drinking paradigms do not include alcohol exposure during the third trimester equivalent. While pregnant dams could be continued on a liquid diet during the suckling period, it is uncertain how much ethanol can cross into the breast milk and the actual
