Individual and ethnic differences in ethanol elimination.

The effects of polymorphism of aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) and obesity (body weight/lean body mass) on the rate of ethanol elimination were studied. One hundred and forty subjects of healthy Japanese male volunteers who ingested 0.4 g/kg of ethanol were divided into two groups, i.e., a normal ALDH group with a low Km isozyme of ALDH and a deficient group. They were further divided into three groups in which the obesity increased in the order group A, B, C. Ethanol elimination (ER) and beta were significantly higher in the normal ALDH group than in the deficient group. In the normal ALDH subjects, beta of group C(0.187 mg/ml/hr) was higher than that of group B(0.155 mg/ml/hr). No difference in ER was observed among the three groups of the obesity in each ALDH group. Distribution volume of ethanol, r, estimated by Watson's method (0.65 to 0.89) was more accurate than Widmark's r(0.5 to 1.00). Ethanol elimination rate in the normal ALDH subjects was greater than that in Caucasian reported by other authors. Body weight was correlated well with liver weight in 135 autopsy materials.