Lack of effect of fortified wine ingested during fasting and anticoagulant therapy.

Because daily ingestion of 592 mL of table wine (12% ethanol by volume) during mealtime had no notable effect on long-term, "therapeutic" hypoprothrombinemia with racemic warfarin sodium in normal subjects, similar experiments were repeated using fortified wine (20% ethanol by volume) during fasting. For 21 days, seven normal subjects were given therapeutic levels of the anticoagulant racemic warfarin alone and with warfarin plus 296 mL/day of fortified wine during fasting. The blood-alcohol level of 296 mL of fortified wine ingested during fasting is equivalent to 1,646 mL of table wine ingested during mealtime. No significant difference occurred in the one-stage prothrombin activity or the plasma levels of warfarin in any subject. It is concluded that daily ingestion of fortified wine during fasting has no effect on therapeutic levels of hypoprothrombinemia of normal humans.