Alcohol Hypoglycemia

Abstract

IN normal man oxidative demands during the immediate postprandial period (the "fed state"¹) are largely met by carbohydrates and proteins of recent dietary origin. As food is withheld (the "fasted state"¹), preformed or endogenously renewed stores of carbohydrate, protein and fat are substituted. However, their relative contributions to the endogenous substrate mixture change progressively during prolonged starvation. Whereas carbohydrates and proteins are initially prominent, fat eventually becomes the predominant fuel except in structures such as the erythrocytes and nerve tissue, in which substrates other than glucose cannot be substituted.² The greatest challenge to production of glucose from endogenous . . .