Albeit limited, more research has focused on the effects of the lactational state on alcohol metabolism (225). The alcohol ingested by lactating women is transferred to human milk but is not stored in the breast tissue. Alcohol concentrations in breast milk parallel maternal bloodstream concentrations (40). In 1993, da-Silva (228) showed that BAC peaked later and that the mean area under the BAC-time curve (AUC), an indicator of systemic availability of the drug, was significantly smaller in lactating women when compared to a control group. However, the control group was comprised of some women who were tested during their postpartum period and others for whom the parity was not reported.
