Utilization of Calories From Alcohol and Wines and Their Effects on Cholesterol Metabolism

Abstract

The utilization of calories for growth by young rats given an adequate diet, free access to drinking water and supplements of 15 or 20% alcohol solutions or wines of the same alcohol concentration was equal to that of rats receiving no alcohol if the alcohol calories were calculated as 75% physiologically available. When no additional water was given along with the alcohol and wine solutions or when water intake was restricted to the amount taken by the alcohol groups, the intake of diet and growth were at once decreased about equally in the water restricted, wine and alcohol groups. When 1% cholesterol was added to the diet all the rats grew better than on the basal diet and water restriction had less unfavorable effects. The liver fat of the alcohol groups was higher than that of the others on both basal and cholesterol diets. Both liver and adrenal cholesterol were much increased by the exogenous cholesterol in all groups but least in the wine fed animals. Hamsters under similar conditions were little affected by water restriction, but growth was decreased on the cholesterol diet and grossly fatty livers developed containing about half the lipid content as cholesterol. Serum cholesterol was much increased, least in the wine-fed groups. Restriction of water intake by rats given alcohol solutions appears to account for most of the effects of chronic alcohol ingestion heretofore reported.