ASSOCIATION BETWEEN HEPATIC STEATOSIS, INSULIN-RESISTANCE AND HYPERINSULINEMIA AS RELATED TO HYPERTENSION IN ALCOHOL CONSUMERS AND OBESE PEOPLE

The presence of hepatic steatosis was determined in 180 middle-aged ma le workers by ultrasonography and was found in 39 (22%) of them. Body mass index (BMI), systolic and diastolic blood pressure (BP) and serum levels of asparate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase ( ALT) and gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (gamma-GTP) were higher in the subjects with hepatic steatosis. Although the volume of alcohol consum ed in a week did not differ between the subjects with and without hepa tic steatosis, the hepatic steatosis was thought to relate to both inc reased body mass and alcohol consumption because the elevations of ser um AST and gamma-GTP in the subjects depended largely on alcohol consu mption but not on BMI. The results of 75 g oral glucose tolerance test showed a higher blood glucose at 120 minutes and a higher plasma immu noreactive insulin at baseline, 60 and 120 minutes in the subjects wit h hepatic steatosis, being adjusted for age, BMI and alcohol consumpti on. The significant association between serum gamma-GTP and BP, which had been often observed in alcohol consumers, was no longer significan t after adjustment for plasma insulin levels whereas plasma insulin sh owed a significant association with BP. These results suggest the poss ibility that hypertension in alcohol consumers, and also in obese peop le, relates at least partly to hyperinsulinaemia associated with progr ession in hepatic steatosis.