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. 1988 Jun;207(6):641–647. doi: 10.1097/00000658-198806000-00001

Alcohol protects against cholesterol gallstone formation.

W H Schwesinger 1, W E Kurtin 1, R Johnson 1
PMCID: PMC1493547  PMID: 3389932

Abstract

Epidemiologic studies have suggested that alcohol intake may protect against cholelithiasis. Gallstone formation was studied in 20 prairie dogs fed a 0.4% cholesterol-supplemented liquid diet. In ten animals, ethanol provided 35% of total calories. In ten pair-fed controls, ethanol was replaced with isocaloric maltose. After 3 months the gallbladders were inspected for gallstones, and gallbladder bile was analyzed. Cholesterol macroaggregates were present in all controls and pigment concretions were noted in five. No stones were observed in ethanol-fed animals. Bile in the ethanol group contained less cholesterol than the controls (5.60 +/- 0.71 vs. 9.16 +/- 0.61 mmol/L, p less than 0.05) while phospholipids, total bile acids, and bilirubin were unchanged. The resulting cholesterol saturation index was reduced in the ethanol group (0.81 vs. 1.22, p less than 0.05). The ratios of trihydroxy to dihydroxy bile acids were also different (2.07 +/- 0.25 in ETOH vs. 3.29 in controls, p less than 0.05). The bile calcium concentration was higher in control animals presumably secondary to the use of complex sugars (5.36 +/- 0.37 vs. 3.77 +/- 0.32 mmol/L, p less than 0.05). These results confirm that ethanol inhibits cholesterol gallstone formation. They further suggest that this effect is dependent on reductions of biliary cholesterol and selective changes in bile acid concentrations.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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