Dirk Alexander Wittekind1, Jürgen Kratzsch2, Roland Mergl3, Cornelia Enzenbach4, A Veronica Witte5, Arno Villringer5, Michael Kluge3. 1. Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany. Electronic address: dirkalexander.wittekind@medizin.uni-leipzig.de. 2. Institute of Laboratory Medicine, Clinical Chemistry and Molecular Diagnostics, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany. 3. Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany. 4. Institute for Medical Informatics, Statistics, and Epidemiology (IMISE), University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany. 5. Department of Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Animal experiments and studies in alcohol dependent patients indicate that ghrelin signaling in the brain is causally involved in the regulation of alcohol reward and intake. Increasing ghrelin levels enhances alcohol craving and intake, blocking ghrelin receptors abolishes these effects. If ghrelin is also involved in non-dependent alcohol consumption in humans, though, remains unknown. The aim was therefore to investigate the relationship between ghrelin serum levels and alcohol consumption in a large population-based sample. METHODS: Total ghrelin was determined after an overnight fast in 1666 subjects participating in a population-based cross-sectional study ('LIFE') including 10,000 adults. 1521 subjects were included in this analysis. Alcohol consumption was assessed using a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). Multiple linear regression analyses and extreme group comparisons testing for statistical differences of alcohol consumption between the highest and lowest quartile according to ghrelin levels were performed. RESULTS: Alcohol consumption was positively associated with serum ghrelin; total sample: β = 0.003, p = 0.002; men: β = 0.005, p = 0.023; women: β = 0.002, p = 0.007, adjusted for age, BMI and smoking status. Mean alcohol consumption in men/women belonging to the highest quartile of serum ghrelin levels (men: 21.5 (21.1) g/day; women: 7.5 (11.4) g/day) was considerably higher than in those belonging to the lowest quartile (men: 16.5 (19.3) g/day p < 0.002; women: 4.59 (10.7) g/day p = 0.0001). CONCLUSION: This is the first study showing that alcohol consumption is positively associated with serum ghrelin in a population-based sample. The study provides an initial indication that ghrelin is also involved in the regulation of alcohol consumption in non-dependent subjects.
BACKGROUND: Animal experiments and studies in alcohol dependent patients indicate that ghrelin signaling in the brain is causally involved in the regulation of alcohol reward and intake. Increasing ghrelin levels enhances alcohol craving and intake, blocking ghrelin receptors abolishes these effects. If ghrelin is also involved in non-dependent alcohol consumption in humans, though, remains unknown. The aim was therefore to investigate the relationship between ghrelin serum levels and alcohol consumption in a large population-based sample. METHODS: Total ghrelin was determined after an overnight fast in 1666 subjects participating in a population-based cross-sectional study ('LIFE') including 10,000 adults. 1521 subjects were included in this analysis. Alcohol consumption was assessed using a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). Multiple linear regression analyses and extreme group comparisons testing for statistical differences of alcohol consumption between the highest and lowest quartile according to ghrelin levels were performed. RESULTS:Alcohol consumption was positively associated with serum ghrelin; total sample: β = 0.003, p = 0.002; men: β = 0.005, p = 0.023; women: β = 0.002, p = 0.007, adjusted for age, BMI and smoking status. Mean alcohol consumption in men/women belonging to the highest quartile of serum ghrelin levels (men: 21.5 (21.1) g/day; women: 7.5 (11.4) g/day) was considerably higher than in those belonging to the lowest quartile (men: 16.5 (19.3) g/day p < 0.002; women: 4.59 (10.7) g/day p = 0.0001). CONCLUSION: This is the first study showing that alcohol consumption is positively associated with serum ghrelin in a population-based sample. The study provides an initial indication that ghrelin is also involved in the regulation of alcohol consumption in non-dependent subjects.
Authors: Grzegorz Godlewski; Resat Cinar; Nathan J Coffey; Jie Liu; Tony Jourdan; Bani Mukhopadhyay; Lee Chedester; Ziyi Liu; Douglas Osei-Hyiaman; Malliga R Iyer; Joshua K Park; Roy G Smith; Hiroshi Iwakura; George Kunos Journal: Cell Metab Date: 2019-05-16 Impact factor: 27.287
Authors: Dirk Alexander Wittekind; Jürgen Kratzsch; Ronald Biemann; Roland Mergl; Steffi Riedel-Heller; Veronika Witte; Arno Villringer; Michael Kluge Journal: Front Psychiatry Date: 2022-05-11 Impact factor: 5.435
Authors: Sara L Deschaine; Mehdi Farokhnia; Adriana Gregory-Flores; Lia J Zallar; Zhi-Bing You; Hui Sun; Deon M Harvey; Renata C N Marchette; Brendan J Tunstall; Bharath K Mani; Jacob E Moose; Mary R Lee; Eliot Gardner; Fatemeh Akhlaghi; Marisa Roberto; James L Hougland; Jeffrey M Zigman; George F Koob; Leandro F Vendruscolo; Lorenzo Leggio Journal: Addict Biol Date: 2021-04-27 Impact factor: 4.093
Authors: D A Wittekind; J Kratzsch; R Mergl; R Baber; V Witte; A Villringer; M Kluge Journal: J Endocrinol Invest Date: 2021-04-21 Impact factor: 4.256