THE EFFECT OF GALACTOSE ON THE METABOLISM OF ETHYL ALCOHOL IN MAN

¹ From the Nutrition Laboratory, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Boston, Massachusett

The respiratory exchange was determined with a human subject before and for three hours after the ingestion of 46.5 grams of galactose with and without the addition of 15 cc. of alcohol in 5 per cent solution. In the experiments with alcohol, the amount of alcohol was determined in the expired air. Alcohol disappeared from the expired air in approximately two and one-half hours and less rapidly than with the same amounts of glucose or fructose combined with alcohol ingestion.

The sugar excretion (as galactose) in the urine in three and one-half hours was 0.7 gram with galactose alone, but with the addition of 15 cc. of alcohol, it rose to 4.5 grams. It is suggested that the greater excretion with alcohol is due to the increased rate of absorption of the sugar.

The maximum rise in the respiratory quotient after galactose was 0.06, but the addition of alcohol produced a maximum fall of 0.05 and there was not a return to above the base-line value as there was with glucose and fructose. The amount of carbohydrate metabolized when the galactose was given with alcohol was not markedly lower than that with galactose alone, but there was a fall in three hours of more than 6 grams in the metabolism of fat after the ingestion of alcohol and galactose as contrasted with an increase of 0.7 gram with galactose alone.

There was practically a summation of the increases in heat production due to the ingestion of alcohol and galactose each alone when the two were given together.

Alcohol furnished approximately 36 per cent of the total energy for the three hours, but when calculated to the duration of alcohol in the expired air, it was 42 per cent.

Alcohol is not metabolized as rapidly when ingested with galactose as it is when given with glucose or fructose. It lowers the already limited tolerance for galactose. The mechanism of this action is not known and warrants further study.