People Get Drunk Faster After Bariatric Surgery, New Study

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Main Category: Obesity / Weight Loss / Fitness
Also Included In: GastroIntestinal / Gastroenterology;  Alcohol / Addiction / Illegal Drugs
Article Date: 15 Jun 2007 - 11:00 PDT

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A new US study suggests that people who have bariatric surgery (gastric bypass) to lose weight are likely to get drunk faster when they drink alcohol and take longer to get sober.

The study was conducted by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine and was presented at the annual meeting of the American Society for Bariatric Surgery by assistant professor of surgery and senior author of the study, Dr John Morton, in San Diego, California, this week. It will be published in the official journal of the American Society for Bariatric Surgery, Surgery for Obesity and Related Diseases, SOARD.

Morton said the study was inspired by an Oprah Winfrey tv programme episode titled "Suddenly Skinny" that aired in October 2006 and after which patients started asking him "What happens when I drink alcohol?"

Morton, who has performed more than 1,000 gastric bypasses always tells his patients to be careful when drinking alcohol afterwards. But the Oprah show, which investigated the dangers of alcohol on gastric bypass patients, caused many of his patients to be very concerned.

The Oprah show revealed how some patients felt they were absorbing alcohol more quickly after their gastric bypass operation. Apparently such a change can cause "addiction transfer" where the addiction of binge eating transfers to an addiction for alcohol.

In trying to research his patients' concerns, Morton realized there was little scientific evidence on the topic and invited Stanford medical student Judith Hagedorn, first author of the study to carry it out with him.

Morton said:

"I've heard the anecdotes of a patient who will drink one glass of wine and get a DUI (arrested for driving under influence), but I wanted to know if there is really a difference before and after surgery."

Morton and Hagedorn and colleagues gave 5 ounces (15 centilitres, about one glass) each of red wine to 19 post-operative gastric bypass patients and 17 controls and told them to drink it within 15 minutes after which they measured their breath-alcohol level every 5 minutes until it reached zero.

The results showed that:

• The gastric bypass patients reached a breath-alcohol peak of 0.08 per cent.
• This compared with 0.05 per cent breath-alcohol peak for the controls.
• The breath-alcohol level of the bypass patients took an average of 108 minutes to return to zero.
• This was significantly longer than the 72 minutes average of the controls.

Morton said that:

"The bypass patients have a fundamentally altered alcohol metabolism."

"They reach a higher peak more quickly and take a longer time to return to zero. Also, the patients aren't really aware of this. The Oprah show did us a favor by pointing it out," he added.

About 150,000 Americans a year have gastric bypass surgery. The procedure is a life saver for morbidly obese people who are 100 pounds or more overweight.

Gastric bypass surgery reduces the stomach to the size of a walnut so that patients feel full after only one ounce of food or thereabouts and they don't eat any more.

It is possible that the addiction transfer from binge eating to alcohol drinking is the result of other physiological changes brought about by the radical surgery. In particular, the authors point to the decrease in dehydrogenase, the enzyme that metabolizes alcohol and is mostly found in the liver and the stomach.

Another possible area to be concerned about, said Morton, is that the social relaxation they experience when drinking alcohol also happens inside the post- operative patient's body. The alcohol decreases the muscle tone in the lower esophageal sphincter, causing the stomach to empty more quickly, and potentially making the patient feel hungry, and thereby start eating again too soon.

Morton explained that:

"Patients have to be careful with alcohol. They'll become tipsy a lot easier. Please don't ever drive after drinking. Also, they need to know the potential for weight gain from alcohol."

As well as the alcohol study, Morton reported to the meeting the findings of a second study that showed an improvement in cardiac risk factors in adolescent patients after having gastric bypass surgery.

Click here for the American Society for Bariatric Surgery.

Click here for more information on Gastrointestinal Surgery for Severe Obesity (from NIH)

Written by: Catharine Paddock
Writer: Medical News Today
Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today