[Biochemical markers for acute and chronic alcohol consumption]

In spite of the fact, that ethyl alcohol is a legal and socially accepted recreational drug its abuse may cause numerous problems for the individual and society. Casualties of car accidents caused by drunk drivers, aggressive behavior, family problems and effective less work are the main problems connected with alcohol abuse. The easiest and most effective way of proving recent alcohol consumption is confirming its presence in biological samples taken from the individual. However, the main disadvantage of this method is a short window detection for ethanol, because of its high speed of elimination process. Nowadays, in order to prevent and have a better control of alcohol abuse, markers that could provide a better view of short and long term ethanol consumption are in frequent use. Ethyl alcohol present in the body cause many qualitative and quantitative disturbances in biochemical metabolites that could be used as markers of its consumption. In practice markers of ethanol consumption are usually divided into acute (tests confirm single alcohol intake) and chronic (confirm long term alcohol consumption or lack of teetotalism). Markers of ethanol consumption are valuable alternative and complementation to customary examinations performed in medical practice and forensic medicine.