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Role of substrate utilization and thermogenesis on body-weight control with particular reference to alcohol*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2007

Yves Schutz
Yves Schutz*
Affiliation:
Institute of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Lausanne, Rue du Bugnon 7, CH-1005 Lausanne, Switzerland
*
Corresponding author:Dr Yves Schutz, fax +41 21 692 55 05, email [email protected]
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Abstract

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Alcohol (ethanol; EtOH) provides fuel energy to the body (29·7 kJ (7·1 kcal)/g, 23·4 kJ (5·6 kcal)/ml), as do other macronutrients, but no associated essential nutrients. The thermogenic effect of EtOH (on average 15 % of its metabolizable value) is much greater than that of the main substrates utilized by the body, i.e. fat and carbohydrates (CHO), suggesting a lower net efficiency of energy utilization for EtOH than for fat and CHO. EtOH cannot be stored in the body and is toxic, so that there is an obligatory continuous oxidation of EtOH and it becomes the priority fuel to be metabolized. In contrast to CHO, its rate of oxidation does not depend on the dose ingested. As with CHO intake, it engenders a shift in postprandial substrate utilization (decrease in fat oxidation), but by a non-insulin-mediated mechanism. A limited amount of EtOH can be converted to fatty acids by hepatic de novo lipogenesis (as occurs with high levels of CHO feeding) from acetate production, which inhibits lipolysis in peripheral tissues. There is no evidence that EtOH consumed under normoenergetic conditions (i.e. isoenergetically replacing CHO or fat) leads to greater body fat storage than fat or CHO. However, there is still a lack of experimental studies on the influence of EtOH on the level of spontaneous physical activity in man. This effect may well depend on the dose of EtOH consumed as well as other intrinsic factors.

Keywords

Energy metabolismThermogenesisThermic effect of alcohol
Type
2nd Plenary Session: ‘Body-weight balance and regulation’
Information
Proceedings of the Nutrition Society , Volume 59 , Issue 4 , November 2000 , pp. 511 - 517
Copyright
Copyright © The Nutrition Society 2000

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