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Saturday, September 27, 2008

Alterations in Ethyl Alcohol Pharmacokinetics During Oral Consumption of Malt Liquor Beverages in African Americans
Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research Published Online: 25 Sep 2008

Malt liquor (ML) beverages have become increasingly popular among urban minority groups, due partly to their inexpensive price and targeted advertising. We hypothesized that nonfermented by-products contained in ML beverages will alter the pharmacokinetics (PK) and pharmacodynamic (PD) effects of its ethanol content. In addition, we determined the effect of alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) genotypes on the PK following consumption of ML beverages.

Results show a slower mean rate of absorption, Ka, (0.12 vs. 0.15 min−1, p = 0.03) and a longer time to reach maximum concentration, Tmax, (28 vs. 23 minute, p < class="i">p = 0.02). There was no difference in the subjective PD effects between the 2 beverages.

Results show that exposure to ethanol following the consumption of ML beverages is different compared to that following nonmalt beverages in African-Americans. These differences may be related to nonfermented by-products present in commercially available ML products. These PK differences do not appear to result in significant perceived alcohol PD changes, nor are they related to ADH genotype.

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Request Reprint E-Mail: d_m_scott2@howard.edu

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