Metabolic Aspects of Alcoholism

In the first annual report on Alcohol and Health to Congress (December, 1971), the then HEW Secretary Elliot L. Richardson called alcohol 'the most abused drum in the United States'. The report revealed that nine million Americans are alcohol abusers and that alcoholic individuals represent almost 10% of the nation's work force. With spreading alcoholism, the incidence of physical damage due to alcohol has greatly increased. A question which is often raised is 'in which way does an alcoholic differ from a non-alcoholic?' Prior to the development of various disease entities, chronic ethanol exposure results in profound biochemical and morphological changes. Differentiation between the effects of ethanol directly linked to its oxidation, and the adaptive and injurious effects of ethanol are not simple, and overlap is common. The liver, the main site of ethanol oxidation, displays the broadest spectrum of metabolic response to ethanol. Other tissues however can be severely affected, including the brain, gut, heart, endocrine systems, bone, blood and muscle. The contents of this volume address recent findings for all these tissues and systems.