Glucose Tolerance in Alcoholism*

Abstract

In the course of time a number of investigations have been carried out in order to study carbohydrate metabolism in a hholism. It has been known for a long time that, initially, blood sugar is elevated when alcohol is consumed, and on its disappearance from the body, blood sugar subsequently falls. The Finnish investigators, Vartia, Forsander and Krusius (1960) showed, in their investigation of 53 persons arrested for drunkenness, that early in the morning afier their intoxication, that is to say when the subjects had a hangover, they had hypoglukemia, with a blood-sugar level that was rhe; lower the more the persons investigated had drunk. Voegth, OHollaren and OHollaren reported as early as 1943 that, in a group o f 303 alcoholics glucose tolerance was reduced in 41 per cent d the climtele. These authors had administered glucose perorally. Contrary to them, Karlan and Cohn (1946) reported that when 50 alcoholics were subjected to an intravenous glucose tolerance test. tolerance was increased in 44 per cent and diminished in 10 per cent. Varela and co-workers found (Varela et d. 1953) in an oral glucose tolerance test of 26 male alcoholics and of a control group comprising 16 nonalcoholics that them was a0 significant difference in gluoose tolerance.Ragnar Hed (1958) has carried out an interesting series of investigations on chronic alcoholics, and found that in 108 cases of certain cirrhosis of tlhe liver a diabetogmic disturbance in sugar metabolism was present in 26.5 per cent of the men and in 16.7 per cent of the women. On administering a peroral glucose tolerance test to 24 chronic alcoholics, this investigation was conducted 7-10 days after their admission to hospital, diabetogenic disturb-

Glucose Turnover Rate and Peripheral Insulin Sensitivity in Alcoholic Patients without Liver Damage

“…Hypoglycemia has been observed in some derelict, intoxicated, fasting alcoholics ad mitted to emergency wards [1], However, hyperglycemia is even more frequently found in these patients during early absti nence [2,3]. These abnormalities in glucose homeostasis in chronic alcoholics are proba bly effected by several opposing factors.…”