Effects of carbohydrate intake on the blood ethanol level and alcoholic fatty liver damage in rats.
Effects of carbohydrate (CHO) intake on the blood ethyl alcohol (ethanol) level were studied in rats with a surgically placed gastric cannula. A basal diet (protein, 2.07; fat, 1.98; CHO, 5.76 g/day), a high-CHO diet (CHO, 4.39 g/day) + ethanol, a medium-CHO diet (CHO, 2.69 g/day) + ethanol or a low-CHO diet (CHO, 0.98 g/day) + ethanol was infused into the stomach for 4 weeks starting from the 2nd postoperative week. The basal diet and the test diets were isocaloric, and the ethanol (2.80 g/day) in the test diets accounted for 39% of the total calories. The liquid diets (50 kcal in 50 ml) were infused over 16 h from 16.00 to 08.00 h each day. The low-CHO diet group had significantly higher blood ethanol levels than the high-CHO diet group 4, 8 and 16 h after the start of infusion. These groups could be ranked by liver triglyceride content at autopsy as follows: low-CHO > medium-CHO > high-CHO > or = basal. Consistent with the triglyceride content, histological changes of the liver could be ranked by the degree of fatty changes in the same order: low-CHO > medium-CHO > high-CHO > basal. Thus, for a given amount of ethanol consumption, lower CHO intake was associated with higher blood ethanol levels and with more severe fatty changes of the liver.
Yonekura
I
I
Department of Environmental Health, Medical University of Yamanashi, Japan.
Nakano
M
M
Sato
A
A
D000818:Animals; D001835:Body Weight; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000032:analysis; D004040:Dietary Carbohydrates; D000431:Ethanol / Q000097:blood*; D005235:Fatty Liver, Alcoholic / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008055:Lipids / Q000032:analysis*; D008099:Liver / Q000737:chemistry / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D009929:Organ Size; D010743:Phospholipids / Q000032:analysis; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D013997:Time Factors; D014280:Triglycerides / Q000032:analysis
D004040:Dietary Carbohydrates; D008055:Lipids; D010743:Phospholipids; D014280:Triglycerides; D000431:Ethanol; D002784:Cholesterol