DIETARY CARBOHYDRATE ACCELERATES ETHANOL ELIMINATION, BUT DOES NOT ALTER HEPATIC ALCOHOL-DEHYDROGENASE

In naive animals the rate of ethanol elimination is dependent on the h epatic alcohol dehydrogenase activity. Carbohydrates have been shown t o modify ethanol metabolism by a mechanism that has not been determine d. In this study, adult female rats, fed chow diets supplemented with fructose or glucose in their drinking water for 10 days demonstrated s ignificantly greater ethanol elimination rates (4.85 +/- 0.28 and 4.92 +/- 1.56 muM ethanol/min/g liver, respectively) than rats receiving w ater (3.65 +/- 0.29). The hepatic alcohol dehydrogenase activity of th e fructose (1687 +/- 101 nm ethanol/min/g liver) and the glucose (1832 +/- 15)-supplemented rats were not significantly different from that of control rats (1845 +/- 160). Dietary carbohydrate supplementation, therefore, enhanced ethanol elimination, but did not alter the activit y of alcohol dehydrogenase. Thus the changes in the ethanol eliminatio n rate following carbohydrate loading were not the consequence of an a lteration in hepatic alcohol dehydrogenase.