Alcoholic beverages: a source of estrogenic substances?

The feminization seen in alcoholic male cirrhotics, in whom circulating levels of estrone and estradiol are normal or only moderately elevated, is not fully understood. Conceptualization of the puzzle has heretofore focused on the ethanol component of alcoholic beverages. In addition to ethanol, however, alcoholic beverages contain a myriad of substances which are collectively termed congeners. To examine the possibility that the congeners of alcoholic beverages include substances which are capable of producing an estrogenic effect, the congeners of bourbon were prepared and administered to ovariectomized rats. Exposure to bourbon congeners produced a dose response in both the mass of the uterus plus fallopian tubes and in plasma levels of luteinizing hormone. These findings provide evidence that the congeners of at least one alcoholic beverage are capable of eliciting responses which are consistent with a hypothesis that alcoholic beverages contain estrogenically active substances.