The Tailgate Study: A Pilot Study Measuring the Impact of Acute Alcohol Intake on Intrahepatic Lipid

Overview

College drinking associated with sporting events is characterized by excess alcohol, along with food intake, over the duration of hours has the potential to cause a build up of fat in the liver. Fatty liver can increase blood glucose concentrations leading to a prediabetes like state. The present study will determine how overweight men respond to the over-consumption of alcohol/food to identify which characteristics might protect some men from fatty liver, while others might be more susceptible to this condition. The goal of this work is to determine the direct impact of alcohol/food intake to cause acute fatty liver through the stimulation of de novo lipogenesis in 20 overweight, healthy men. Understanding individual susceptibility to alcohol-induced fatty liver will aid in the development of strategies designed to help people mitigate these risks. Hypothesis is that 5h excess consumption of alcohol and food will increase liver triglycerides by 4% or more, in comparison to fasting state.

Subjects will participate in a single screening visit and a 24 hours in-patient stay at the clinical research center for treatment and tests. No drugs will be used in this study, however, amounts of alcohol will be consumed to achieve, and maintain a breath alcohol at the legal limit (0.10). The goals are to quantitate the increase in lipogenesis due to acute alcohol/food intake and to determine the effects of acute alcohol/food intake on liver-triglycerides.

Conditions

Eligibility