Effect of food and food composition on alcohol elimination rates in healthy men and women

Several studies have evaluated the effect of food on alcohol pharmacokineti cs; however, most studies have used oral alcohol administration, which cann ot separate the influence of food on absorption from its influence on alcoh ol elimination. Alcohol clamping uses intravenous alcohol and provides a di rect measure of the alcohol elimination rate (AER). Two studies, using alco hol clamping at 50 mg%, were conducted to investigate the effect of food an d food composition on AER (g/h) in healthy men and women. In the first stud y, 20 subjects underwent two clamping sessions, one after a 12-hour fast an d another 1 hour after consuming a 530-calorie breakfast. In the second stu dy, 8 subjects underwent four clamping sessions: one after a 12-hour fast a nd, in each of three "fed" sessions, 1 hour after a 550-calorie high-fat, h igh-protein, or high-carbohydrate breakfast. Comparison of AERs from the fi rst study showed an average 25% increase following food compared to that fo llowing fasting. Men showed significantly higher AERs compared to women; ho wever, the food effect was similar in both genders. In the second study, th e AER showed a significant average 45% increase following the meal, regardl ess of composition, compared with that following fasting. These findings in dicate that food intake results in increased alcohol elimination rates. The increase was similar for meals of different compositions, suggesting that the food effect is not due to specific interactions with meal constituents. Probable mechanisms for the increased alcohol elimination include food-ind uced increases in hepatic bloodflow and in the activity of alcohol-metaboli zing enzymes. (C) 2001 the American College of Clinical Pharmacology.