Nutritional issues in perinatal alcohol exposure.

Animal models are important in perinatal alcohol research because they provide an opportunity to study the effects of alcohol while controlling for biological, social and environmental factors which are difficult to control in human studies. One of the variables which has often been overlooked in animal studies, however, is nutrition. Even when there has been an awareness of the need for nutritional controls, such controls have been particularly difficult to implement because alcohol and nutrition interact at so many levels. In this review the interactions of alcohol and nutrition are discussed and some of the methods used to separate effects of alcohol from effects of alcohol-induced malnutrition are considered. In particular, the issues of method of alcohol administration as well as effects of alcohol on nutrient intake, nutrient digestion, absorption and utilization, and nutrient requirements are reviewed. Potentiation of ethanol effects by dietary deficiencies during pregnancy, and possible synergistic effects of alcohol and nutritional deficiencies are described. Finally, the problems inherent in pair-feeding and ad lib feeding control procedures, as well as the issues of diet composition and feeding schedule are discussed.