Obesity surgery can increase alcohol sensitivity
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Patients who have undergone gastric bypass surgery for obesity have higher breath-alcohol levels after drinking the same amount as other people—and it takes much longer for their levels to return to zero, the findings from a small study suggest.
“There are a few implications here. The overwhelming one being that patients need to be cautious using alcohol after they’ve had this surgery. One drink may be one too many,” senior author Dr. John Morton, from Stanford University in California, told Reuters Health. “In addition, by relaxing the intestine, alcohol can allow the patient to consume more food, which could wreak havoc on their weight maintenance.”
The findings, which were presented Thursday at the annual meeting of the American Society for Bariatric Surgery in San Diego, are from a study of 19 patients who underwent gastric bypass 1 year earlier and 17 comparison subjects (controls), who were about the same weight as the patients post-surgery.
All of the subjects were given 5 ounces of red wine and instructed to consume the beverage within 15 minutes. Breath-alcohol levels then were measured every 5 minutes.
Seventy-seven percent of gastric bypass patients had a peak alcohol level of 0.08 percent, “which is considered legally intoxicated” in some states, Morton noted. By contrast, the peak level reached in the control group was 0.05 percent.
For the control subjects, it took 72 minutes for breath-alcohol levels to return to zero. In gastric bypass patients, on the other hand, 108 minutes were required.
Further studies are needed to better understand how gastric bypass surgery causes changes in alcohol metabolism, Morton said.
One possible mechanism involves alcohol dehydrogenase, an enzyme needed for the body to metabolize alcohol. Morton explained that this enzyme is present in the stomach, as well as in the liver. Because the surgery bypasses much of the stomach, there is less enzyme available to breakdown the alcohol. “So, the alcohol just gets dumped into the small intestine, where it is readily absorbed.”
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