Virtual Bar App, helping users learn more about responsible alcohol use

It's your night out and you'd probably have a drink or two. Last time, it didn't go well. You had only two drinks, but you felt dizzy, your reaction was slow, your speech was slurred, like you've drank the whole bottle. A week before that, you had three drinks, but you felt perfectly fine. What is the reason for this difference? Why we sometimes feel horrible after just one drink, and perfectly fine the other time even if we had one too many?

It's related to our blood-alcohol concentration or BAC, which is individual and depends on many factors, such us the food you eat, the water you drink throughout the night, your age, weight, etc. Different BAC levels make you feel different, and they can get back to zero, but it takes time, which also depends on how many drinks you had and factors that affect your BAC.

To help people understand their blood-alcohol concentration (BAC), Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility developed website and mobile app called Virtual Bar, which allows users to enter basic profile information, amount and type of alcohol consumed over how much time, food or water consumed, etc. The app then calculates approximate BAC based on the info provided by users. The app is endorsed and supported by companies such as Bacardi and celebrities, including Shaquille O'Neal.

Upon starting the app, you'll get the disclaimers that Virtual Bar app is not intended as a scientific tool for measuring blood-alcohol concentration (BAC), but is rather educational app designed to help adults of legal drinking age understand the factors that may affect their BAC levels, which are solely for illustrative purposes.

The disclaimers also advise users against drinking and driving, which we highly recommend as well. Even if you only had the smallest sip of alcohol you SHOULD NOT drive. Ask your friend to take you home (if they didn't drink), take a cab, bus or subway. It much better, it's much safer. Also, don't drink if you're on prescription or OTC medications, and never mix an alcohol with any kind of drugs.

Of course, the disclaimers in the Virtual Bar app probably are not enough to discourage anyone from alcohol intake, but they do highlight and important caveat, mentioned previously. The app should only be used for general educational purposes. It doesn't give any advices on alcohol intake, for example on how many drinks you can drink after huge meal and be safe to drive. The app only tells you general info about your BAC. Your actions are your own responsibility.

In order to give you more info about your BAC levels, the app will ask you to provide some basic info, such as your name (it could be any name), your gender, age (it starts at 21), weight and height. The last three entries are digits and you enter them by swiping the screen left or right, which is really nicely done. 

There are certain limitations tho. Genders are in standard binary format, which may require further guidance for transgender users. Also, weight range can't go above 382 lbs, which limits the app's use for significantly overweight patients. All the info is stored, but can be edited later.

Once your profile is set up, you'll be taken to a new screen with three more options to enter: drink, food and friend. You enter this info by tapping on the sign beside each option. For example, if you want to enter drink information tap on the glass sign and choose from a list that includes water, light beer, beer, shot of liquor, glass of wine, mixed drinks, etc.

You'll notice that there's not much info on size of the bottle or glass, or how many ounces or alcohol content is inside. You basically only choose the type of drink and the time for consuming, which is given in four options (1 minute, 15, 30 and 60 minutes).

You'll then get the info on your Peak BAC, along with the information on how it may affect your mood, inhibitions, memory, speech and coordination.

For the purpose of this review, I'll be Joseph, social drinker, who decided to grab a couple of beers after a work with his co-worker Tony. The drinking session included three beers and one shot of liquor, with duration of one hour and a half, and it put my BAC at 0.08, meaning I was illegal to drive in all states. 

If I decided to have a meal before we went to a bar, I could specify that by adding the food to my session. You'll see that the food provided in the app is not specific, so you can't know if you ate pizza, cheesesteak or a burger, but you can add an estimated protein, fat, carbs, and calorie content instead. Adding 500 cal of high carbs meal only brings BAC down to 0.06, which is still not enough. To get my BAC back to zero, according to the app, I'd need 6 hours and 35 minutes. So, me driving home is out of question.

My colleague Tony is no better. After his drinking session that included a craft beer, a glass of water before we had a shot of liquor, and one more beer to make me a company, his BAC sits on 0.07. He didn't have a snack before a bar, so he needs 6 hours to get his BAC back to zero. He couldn't drive either.

Fortunately, our co-worker Alice was there to save the day. She had one margarita and one glass of water, which put her BAC at 0.03. A 500 cal of high protein meal lowered it to 0.01, so she was able to call us a cab, which drove all three of us safely home.

It should be noted that there's no option to remove the drink once you've added it to your profile, or to change the consuming time. You can only reset the food, which serves as the indicator on how it may affect BAC levels if consumed 15 minutes before 30 minutes drinking session.

Beside Bar option in the Menu, you can see your profile and edit it if necessary, as well as your friends' profiles. You can also check the app information and disclaimer. There's no any reference links provided within the app, so we don't know from where the calculations are derived.

Overall, Virtual Bar app is really interesting and easy-to-use app with intuitive and modern interface, which is great only as an educational tool, demonstrating both patients and healthcare providers on how much alcohol changes BAC levels, depending on various individual factors.

Benefit: Anyone who is interested to see how blood-alcohol concentration (BAC) change on individual level depending on various factors, may find this app useful