title: Alcohol, smoking and body build: obesity as a result of the toxic effect of 'social' alcohol consumption.
abstract: Previous work showed that obesity in the average human male is not due to increased caloric intake. To test the hypothesis that 'social' ethanol consumption causes obesity by a hepatotoxic mechanism, the relationships between alcohol intake, cigarette smoking, serum gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) and body build were investigated in 816 adult patients, 491 males and 325 females. A large part of the Broca index variance could be explained by hepatic damage as reflected by the GGT level. The higher the GGT, the more overweight were the subjects. Hyperinsulinemia may be the pathogenetic link; insulin is the strongest known blocker of lipolysis. Almost the total variation of obesity with GGT, however, occurred in the range of GGT up to 25 U/l, which is usually, but nevertheless erroneously, considered to be the normal range. This effect was independent of sex and age. Normal GGT is below 10 U/l, which is found on average in females aged less than 20 years. Females tolerate less alcohol than males. Although GGT is as high in females as in males around age 30, males drink about three times as much ethanol. For the same GGT the Broca index is significantly higher in females than in males. GGT generally increases with age; maximum GGT is reached in females in the age group 21-40 years (due to the change in drinking habits around 1968), declining thereafter; in males at age 50. Obesity per se is not correlated with a high GGT. In the females there are hormonal factors influencing obesity. Although in the females GGT decreases on average after age 40, obesity increases (due to the decrease in estrogens). After age 50 ethanol tolerance in males decreases: they reduce their alcohol consumption, and yet the GGT remains high. -Cigarette smoking is a factor which independently influences obesity. Although people who smoke tend also to drink more alcohol, smokers are significantly leaner than nonsmokers. On average males smoke about twice as heavily as females; this contributes to the fact that on average males are leaner than females despite their higher alcohol consumption. Due to lower consumption the influence of ethanol and smoking on body build is smaller in females than in males.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Ulm University, FRG.
authors.forename: H H
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Kornhuber
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kornhuber
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wanner
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kornhuber
authors.forename: C H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Kaiserauer
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking; D001799:Blood Sedimentation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects*; D013008:Somatotypes; D005723:gamma-Glutamyltransferase / Q000097:blood
chemical_list: D005723:gamma-Glutamyltransferase