The Metabolic Response to Exercise in Chronic Alcoholics

Abstract

The metabolic response to steady exercise was studied in six chronic alcoholics and six normal control subjects. Higher concentrations of lactated and pyruvate were observed in the alcoholics during exercise and they also developed post-exercise ketosis. These changes were probably not due to reduced fitness of the alcoholics as the heart rates of both groups were similar. Alcoholics had lower levels of growth hormone during exercise compared with the controls suggesting that chronic alcohol consumption has a depressor effect on pathways regulating the release of growth hormone.

Ethanol Ingestion and the Development of Post‐exercise Ketosis in Non‐alcoholic Human Subjects

“…The unequivocally negative results corroborate the findings of Dawson & Smith (1986) and of Lefevre and co-workers (1970) who showed that the ketogenic rate of rat liver slices treated with alcohol is not higher than normal unless the animals are pre-treated with alcohol for 3 d. The chronic use of alcohol then predisposes the liver to increased ketone body production (Derr & Derr, 1985), even when alcohol consumption is interrupted for a period of up to 16 d, and the subject is well fed (Chalmers et al 1977). The predisposition of chronic alcoholics to postexercise ketosis (Chalmers et al 1977), cannot therefore be ascribed entirely to the immediate effects of alcohol consumption. The nature of the persistent changes in liver metabolism, in the absence of overt hepatic disease (Chalmers et al 1977), are not known.…”

“…The predisposition of chronic alcoholics to postexercise ketosis (Chalmers et al 1977), cannot therefore be ascribed entirely to the immediate effects of alcohol consumption. The nature of the persistent changes in liver metabolism, in the absence of overt hepatic disease (Chalmers et al 1977), are not known.…”

“…Alcoholic ketosis occurs in alcoholics, who have been shown also to be more predisposed than normal to post-exercise ketosis (Chalmers, Sulaiman & Johnson, 1977). We therefore studied post-exercise ketosis in ten normal people who drank 1-6 mol ethanol at 18.00-21.00 h, and then did a 12 km walk at 07.00 h the next morning.…”

“…The subjects in previous investigations into the effect of alcohol on ketone body metabolism (Lefevre et al 1970;Levy et al 1973;Cooperman, Davidoff, Spark & Pallotta, 1974;Chalmers et al 1977;Miller et al 1978;Halperin et al 1983) have all been chronic alcoholics. The present investigation is the first, to our knowledge, in which the effect of alcohol on ketosis has been studied in normal subjects in vivo.…”

Attenuation of the ethanol-induced hepatic redox change after chronic alcohol consumption in baboons: Metabolic consequences in vivo and in vitro

“…However, i n uiuo, the changes of ratio in the peripheral blood are not reliable because of the contribution of peripheral tissues to the formation of lactate and pyruvate (28). In fact, it has been reported that alcoholics may have higher blood lactate and pyruvate levels than do nonalcoholics, especially after exercise (29). Preliminary studies in the baboon indicated that the occasional vigorous struggling of the animals invalidated the use of peripheral blood for determination of the lactate/pyruvate ratio.…”