Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2004, 202(1)

Effects of Alcohol Consumption on HepatocellularInjury in Japanese Men

MIWAKO DAKEISHI, TOYOTO IWATA, NORIKO ISHII and KATSUYUKI MURATA

Division of Environmental Health Sciences, Department of Social Medicine, Akita University School of Medicine, Akita 010-8543

To clarify the effects of alcohol consumption on hepatocellular injury, we examined aspartate and alanine aminotransferases (AST and ALT), and γ-glutamyltransferase (GGT), together with weekly alcohol consumption calculated from a self-rating questionnaire, in 1113 Japanese salesmen. The thresholds of associations between alcohol consumption and liver markers were estimated by the benchmark dose (BMD) method. The AST, ALT and GGT were positively correlated withalcohol intake (p<0.001), as well as age and body mass index (BMI); the relations toalcohol were statistically significant even when controlling for age, BMI and smoking habit. Although the AST and GGT were associated with four types of alcoholic beverage (p<0.01), it was only whisky that had close relation to the ALT (p<0.05). The thresholds of alcohol consumption (ethanol g/week), i.e., 95% lower confidence limits of the BMD, were 362 for AST, 660 for ALT, and 252 for GGT. The thresholds for GGT and AST in Japanese men seem to be somewhat higher than those reported in Western countries. It is suggested that hepatocellular injury (i.e., AST elevation) in Japanese men may emerge at the ethanol level of more than 50 g/day.

keywords —— alcohol consumption; hepatocellular injury; aspartate aminotransferase (AST); benchmark dose method; critical dose

© 2004 Tohoku University Medical Press

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Address for reprints: Katsuyuki Murata, Division of Environmental Health Sciences, Department of Social Medicine, Akita University School of Medicine, 1-1-1 Hondo, Akita 010-8543, Japan.

e-mail: winestem@med.akita-u.ac.jp