LEAN AND HEAVY WOMEN MAY NOT USE ENERGY FROM ALCOHOL WITH EQUAL EFFICIENCY

To assess whether energy from alcohol is efficiently utilized to maint ain body mass, we examined changes in energy intake of young women whe n they drank alcohol. The women ate controlled diets typical of the Am erican diet with regard to macronutrients. Body weights were controlle d to within 1 kg of entry level weights. The subjects were given alcoh ol (30 g/d) and no alcohol treatments for 3 mo each in a crossover des ign. The treatments were isoenergetic; for the no alcohol treatment al cohol energy was replaced with energy from carbohydrate. The average c hange in energy intake associated with the alcohol treatment was negli gible when all subjects were considered collectively. There was, howev er, a divergence in response between lean and heavy subjects. Fifteen women required, on average, an additional 886 +/- 147 (mean +/- SEM) k J/d to maintain body weight during the alcohol treatment, and these wo men were leaner (body mass index 22.6 +/- 0.8 kg/m(2) vs. 25.2 +/- 1.0 , P < 0.05) than the 22 women who required, on average, 559 +/- 139 fe wer kJ/d when on the alcohol treatment. This study suggests that all s ubjects do not use energy from alcohol with equal efficiency.