METABOLIC CONSEQUENCES OF ALCOHOL DEPENDENCY

Alcohol dependency leads to a variety of biochemical adaptations and m orphological changes which may be considered as either adaptive or des tructive. This ranges from the utilization of ethanol as a metabolic f uel, to overt tissue and cellular damage, and may lead to increases in morbidity and mortality. Virtually every organ system is affected by either acute and chronic ethanol exposure and numerous metabolic pathw ays are altered. As a consequence of these wide ranging effects, it is extremely difficult to cover every aspect of alcohol toxicity in a si ngle review. Instead, attention is focused on selected areas, such as nutrition and protein metabolism in the liver and bone (and to a lesse r extent, skeletal muscle and the gastrointestinal tract). The aim is to illustrate the numerous ways in which alcohol affects the body.