Does gastric bypass alter alcohol metabolism?

BACKGROUND: Morbid obesity is the leading public health crisis in the United States, with bariatric surgery as the only effective and enduring treatment for this disease. a concern has been raised, that, postoperatively, alcohol metabolism might be altered in gastric bypass patients. We hypothesized that alcohol metabolism in the postoperative gastric bypass patient would be altered.
METHODS: Of 36 subjects, 17 control and 19 postgastric bypass subjects each consumed 5 oz of red wine. They underwent an alcohol breath analysis every 5 minutes. The outcomes recorded included symptoms, initial peak alcohol breath level, and the time for alcohol breath levels to normalize.
RESULTS: The gastric bypass group was on average 10 years older and had a greater weight and body mass index than the control group. The average time after gastric bypass was 2 years, with an average body mass index loss of 18 kg/m(2) (51 kg/m(2) before versus 33 kg/m(2) after). The gastric bypass patients had a peak alcohol breath level of 0.08% and the controls had a level of 0.05%. The gastric bypass group needed, on average, 108 minutes to reach an alcohol breath level of 0; the control group reached this level after an average of 72 minutes. Both groups showed a similar postingestion symptom profile.
CONCLUSION: In this study, alcohol metabolism was significantly different between the postgastric bypass and control subjects. Although the gastric bypass patients' had a greater peak alcohol level and a longer time for the alcohol level to reach 0 than the controls, the gastric bypass group did not experience more symptoms than the control group. These findings provide caution regarding alcohol use by gastric bypass patients.