Alcohol consumption and food intake

[Amoral]

I was wondering, if you consume a crapload of beer, but still eat your 600 cals of food or whatever every two hours during your bingefest, how will the alcohol consumption alter (if it actually does) food metabolization?

http://www.healthchecksystems.com/alcohol.htm

Since alcohol is quickly passed through the liver, will this cause all subsequent food intake to be essentially put on hold?

So what I get from this is that if you're drinking all night long, and still eating (clean or not) that most of what you eat will be stored and not used for energy.

Is that correct?

[5151]

As much as I believe 90% of t-nation is horseshit. This article is quite good:
http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sex_news_sports_funny/a_muscleheads_guide_to_alcohol_1

My guess would be your food is still going to digest. Carbohyrates are still going to be the body's preferred form of energy. Whether or not the food ingested is used for energy or stored will greatly depend on the day's overall balance. Keep in mind when drinking, those drinks may not being wholly comprised of alcohol.

[Amoral]

Thanks for that link - just what I was lookin for.

[5151]

I came across this today. Looks like it could delay the gastric emptying of the meal though this is not in the binge scenario really. Even so it looks like if within a few hours of stopping drinking the meal would be digested. So surely before you woke up.

The effect of ethanol and alcoholic beverages on gastric emptying of solid meals in humans.
Alcohol Alcohol. 2005 May-Jun;40(3):187-93. Epub 2005 Feb 7.

AIMS: The systematic study of the effect of pure ethanol, alcoholic beverages, and their non-alcoholic components on gastric emptying of solid meals in humans. METHODS: 16 fasting healthy male subjects received once weekly 300 ml of the following solutions in random order: 4 and 10% (v/v) ethanol, beer, red wine, 5.5 and 11.4% (w/v) glucose, and water. The test solutions were given either together with a low caloric (270 kcal, n = 8) or a high caloric (740 kcal, n = 8) solid meal. Ultrasonography of the antrum was used to determine gastric emptying. RESULTS: Gastric half emptying time (t(1/2) ) of the high caloric solid meal with water was 131.3 +/- 7 min. The ingestion of 4 and 10% (v/v) ethanol (158.8 +/- 9.3 and 165.6 +/- 6.2 min, respectively), beer (163.1 +/- 11 min), and red wine (186.3 +/- 8.4 min) resulted in a significantly longer t(1/2) than water. The lag phases after 4 and 10% (v/v) ethanol, beer, and red wine were not significantly different from that of water (48.1 +/- 6.5 min). Compared with water, the ingestion of 5.5 and 11.4% (w/v) glucose resulted in a significantly longer t(1/2) (153.8 +/- 5 and 168.1 +/- 14.4 min, respectively) by increasing the duration of the lag phase. The high caloric meals resulted in a 2-fold prolongation of t(1/2) when compared with the low caloric meals. The effect of the solutions on the gastric emptying times, however, was similar for both test meals. CONCLUSIONS: (i) Ethanol in low concentrations of 4 and 10% (v/v) prolongs gastric emptying of solid meals; this inhibitory effect is not dose-dependent. (ii) Alcoholic beverages (beer and red wine) also result in a prolongation of gastric emptying. The inhibitory effect of red wine, but not of beer, is more pronounced than that of the corresponding ethanol concentration and amount. (iii) The inhibitory effect of ethanol and alcoholic beverages is mainly induced by a prolongation of the gastric emptying phase (without affecting the lag phase), whereas 5.5 and 11.4% (w/v) glucose prolong the lag phase in a dose-dependent manner. (iv) The inhibitory effect of ethanol, beer, and red wine on gastric emptying does not depend on the caloric content of the meal.