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Nutrients Mar 2020The effects of alcohol on cardiovascular health are heterogeneous and vary according toconsumption dose and pattern. These effects have classically been described as... (Review)
Review
The effects of alcohol on cardiovascular health are heterogeneous and vary according toconsumption dose and pattern. These effects have classically been described as having a J-shapedcurve, in which low-to-moderate consumption is associated with less risk than lifetime abstention,and heavy drinkers show the highest risk. Nonetheless, the beneficial effects of alcohol have beenquestioned due to the difficulties in establishing a safe drinking threshold. This review focuses onthe association between alcohol consumption and cardiovascular risk factors and the underlyingmechanisms of damage, with review of the literature from the last 10 years.
Topics: Alcohol Drinking; Cardiovascular Diseases; Cardiovascular System; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2; Ethanol; Humans; Inflammation; Oxidative Stress; Risk Factors
PubMed: 32230720
DOI: 10.3390/nu12040912 -
Alcohol Research : Current Reviews 2020Globally, more than 2 million new cases of breast cancer are reported annually. The United States alone has more than 496,000 new cases every year. The worldwide... (Review)
Review
Globally, more than 2 million new cases of breast cancer are reported annually. The United States alone has more than 496,000 new cases every year. The worldwide prevalence is approximately 6.8 million cases. Although many risk factors for breast cancer are not modifiable, understanding the role of the factors that can be altered is critical. Alcohol consumption is a modifiable factor. Studies of alcohol in relation to breast cancer incidence have included hundreds of thousands of women. Evidence is consistent that intake, even intake of less than 10-15 grams per day, is associated with increased risk of this disease. In addition, evidence, although less extensive, shows that possible early indicators of risk, such as benign breast disease and increased breast density, are associated with alcohol consumption. Evidence is less strong for differences based on geographic region, beverage type, drinking pattern, or breast cancer subtype. Some studies have examined the association between alcohol and recurrence or survival after a breast cancer diagnosis. These findings are less consistent. Public awareness of alcohol as a risk factor for breast cancer is low, and public health measures to increase that awareness are warranted.
Topics: Adult; Alcohol Drinking; Breast Neoplasms; Ethanol; Female; Humans; Incidence; Middle Aged; Risk Factors; United States
PubMed: 32582503
DOI: 10.35946/arcr.v40.2.11 -
EBioMedicine Jul 2023Glucagon-like peptide1 receptor (GLP-1R) agonists have been found to reduce alcohol drinking in rodents and overweight patients with alcohol use disorder (AUD). However,...
BACKGROUND
Glucagon-like peptide1 receptor (GLP-1R) agonists have been found to reduce alcohol drinking in rodents and overweight patients with alcohol use disorder (AUD). However, the probability of low semaglutide doses, an agonist with higher potency and affinity for GLP-1R, to attenuate alcohol-related responses in rodents and the underlying neuronal mechanisms is unknown.
METHODS
In the intermittent access model, we examined the ability of semaglutide to decrease alcohol intake and block relapse-like drinking, as well as imaging the binding of fluorescently marked semaglutide to nucleus accumbens (NAc) in both male and female rats. The suppressive effect of semaglutide on alcohol-induced locomotor stimulation and in vivo dopamine release in NAc was tested in male mice. We evaluated effect of semaglutide on the in vivo release of dopamine metabolites (DOPAC and HVA) and gene expression of enzymes metabolising dopamine (MAOA and COMT) in male mice.
FINDINGS
In male and female rats, acute and repeated semaglutide administration reduced alcohol intake and prevented relapse-like drinking. Moreover, fluorescently labelled semaglutide was detected in NAc of alcohol-drinking male and female rats. Further, semaglutide attenuated the ability of alcohol to cause hyperlocomotion and to elevate dopamine in NAc in male mice. As further shown in male mice, semaglutide enhanced DOPAC and HVA in NAc when alcohol was onboard and increased the gene expression of COMT and MAOA.
INTERPRETATION
Altogether, this indicates that semaglutide reduces alcohol drinking behaviours, possibly via a reduction in alcohol-induced reward and NAc dependent mechanisms. As semaglutide also decreased body weight of alcohol-drinking rats of both sexes, upcoming clinical studies should test the plausibility that semaglutide reduces alcohol intake and body weight in overweight AUD patients.
FUNDING
Swedish Research Council (2019-01676), LUA/ALF (723941) from the Sahlgrenska University Hospital and the Swedish brain foundation.
Topics: Female; Rats; Mice; Male; Animals; Exenatide; Dopamine; 3,4-Dihydroxyphenylacetic Acid; Overweight; Ethanol; Alcoholism; Alcohol Drinking; Recurrence
PubMed: 37295046
DOI: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2023.104642 -
Experimental Psychology Nov 2022Somewhat counterintuitively, alcohol consumption following learning of new information has been shown to enhance performance on a delayed subsequent memory test. This...
Somewhat counterintuitively, alcohol consumption following learning of new information has been shown to enhance performance on a delayed subsequent memory test. This phenomenon has become known as the retrograde facilitation effect (Parker et al., 1981). Although conceptually replicated repeatedly, serious methodological problems are associated with most previous demonstrations of retrograde facilitation. Moreover, two potential explanations have been proposed, the interference and the consolidation hypothesis. So far, empirical evidence for and against both hypotheses is inconclusive (Wixted, 2004). To scrutinize the existence of the effect, we conducted a pre-registered replication that avoided common methodological pitfalls. In addition, we used Küpper-Tetzel and Erdfelder's (2012) multinomial processing tree (MPT) model to disentangle encoding, maintenance, and retrieval contributions to memory performance. With a total sample size of = 93, we found no evidence for retrograde facilitation in overall cued or free recall of previously presented word pairs. In line with this, MPT analyses also showed no reliable difference in maintenance probabilities. However, MPT analyses revealed a robust alcohol advantage in retrieval. We conclude that alcohol-induced retrograde facilitation might exist and be driven by an underlying retrieval benefit. Future research is needed to investigate potential moderators and mediators of the effect explicitly.
Topics: Humans; Mental Recall; Cues; Learning; Ethanol; Cognition
PubMed: 36809161
DOI: 10.1027/1618-3169/a000569 -
The Lancet. Global Health Mar 2022
Topics: Alcohol Drinking; Ethanol; Health Policy; Humans; Internationality
PubMed: 35180399
DOI: 10.1016/S2214-109X(22)00035-3 -
International Journal of Environmental... Nov 2021Fluctuating crude oil price and global environmental problems such as global warming and climate change lead to growing demand for the production of renewable chemicals... (Review)
Review
Fluctuating crude oil price and global environmental problems such as global warming and climate change lead to growing demand for the production of renewable chemicals as petrochemical substitutes. Butanol is a nonpolar alcohol that is used in a large variety of consumer products and as an important industrial intermediate. Thus, the production of butanol from renewable resources (e.g., biomass and organic waste) has gained a great deal of attention from researchers. Although typical renewable butanol is produced via a fermentative route (i.e., acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) fermentation of biomass-derived sugars), the fermentative butanol production has disadvantages such as a low yield of butanol and the formation of byproducts, such as acetone and ethanol. To avoid the drawbacks, the production of renewable butanol via non-fermentative catalytic routes has been recently proposed. This review is aimed at providing an overview on three different emerging and promising catalytic routes from biomass/organic waste-derived chemicals to butanol. The first route involves the conversion of ethanol into butanol over metal and oxide catalysts. Volatile fatty acid can be a raw chemical for the production of butanol using porous materials and metal catalysts. In addition, biomass-derived syngas can be transformed to butanol on non-noble metal catalysts promoted by alkali metals. The prospect of catalytic renewable butanol production is also discussed.
Topics: Acetone; Biomass; Butanols; Ethanol; Fermentation
PubMed: 34831504
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph182211749 -
Sheng Wu Gong Cheng Xue Bao = Chinese... May 2021Higher alcohols that contain more than two carbon atoms have better fuel properties than ethanol, making them important supplements and alternatives to fossil fuels.... (Review)
Review
Higher alcohols that contain more than two carbon atoms have better fuel properties than ethanol, making them important supplements and alternatives to fossil fuels. Using microbes to produce higher alcohols from renewable biomass can alleviate the current energy and environmental crises, and has become a major future direction for green biomanufacturing. Since natural microbes can only produce a few higher alcohols in small amounts, it is necessary to reconstruct the synthetic pathways for higher alcohols in model industrial strains through metabolic engineering and synthetic biology to overcome the metabolic bottlenecks. A series of milestones have been accomplished in past decades. The authors of this review have witnessed the entire journey of this field from its first success to the leaping development. On the 30th anniversary of the founding of the discipline of metabolic engineering, this review dates back to the great milestones in achieving heterologous production of higher alcohols in non-native strains. The design and optimization of high alcohol biosynthetic pathways, the expansion of feedstock, the engineering of host strains and the industrialization process are summarized. This review aims to draw further attention to microbial synthesis of higher alcohols, inspire the development of novel techniques and strategies of metabolic engineering, and promote the innovation and upgrade of China's biofuel industry.
Topics: Alcohols; Biofuels; Biosynthetic Pathways; Ethanol; Metabolic Engineering; Synthetic Biology
PubMed: 34085451
DOI: 10.13345/j.cjb.200700 -
Current Opinion in Biotechnology Jun 2022Acetogens harness the Wood-Ljungdahl Pathway, a unique metabolic pathway for C1 capture close to the thermodynamic limit. Gas fermentation using acetogens is already... (Review)
Review
Acetogens harness the Wood-Ljungdahl Pathway, a unique metabolic pathway for C1 capture close to the thermodynamic limit. Gas fermentation using acetogens is already used for CO-to-ethanol conversion at industrial-scale and has the potential to valorise a range of C1 and waste substrates to short-chain and medium-chain carboxylic acids and alcohols. Advances in analytical quantification and metabolic modelling have helped guide industrial gas fermentation designs. Further advances in the measurements of difficult to measure metabolites are required to improve kinetic modelling and understand the regulation of acetogen metabolism. This will help guide future synthetic biology designs needed to realise the full potential of gas fermentation in stimulating a circular bioeconomy.
Topics: Clostridium; Ethanol; Fermentation; Metabolic Networks and Pathways; Synthetic Biology
PubMed: 35240422
DOI: 10.1016/j.copbio.2022.102700 -
Gut Microbes 2022Alcohol-related liver disease (ALD) is a major cause of liver disease and represents a global burden, as treatment options are scarce. Whereas 90% of ethanol abusers...
Alcohol-related liver disease (ALD) is a major cause of liver disease and represents a global burden, as treatment options are scarce. Whereas 90% of ethanol abusers develop alcoholic fatty liver disease (AFLD), only a minority evolves to steatohepatitis and cirrhosis. Alcohol increases lipogenesis and suppresses lipid-oxidation implying steatosis, although the key role of intestinal barrier integrity and microbiota in ALD has recently emerged. () is a prominent member of human and murine intestinal microbiota, and plays important functions in metabolism, gut immunity, and mucosal barrier. We aimed to investigate the role of in the genesis of ethanol-induced liver steatosis. DNA was measured in feces of wild-type mice receiving a Lieber-DeCarli diet supplemented with an increase in alcohol concentration. In a second step, ethanol-fed mice were orally treated with living , followed by analysis of intestinal homeostasis and histological and biochemical alterations in the liver. Alcohol feeding reduced abundance, which was preserved by oral supplementation. -treated mice displayed lower hepatic steatosis and triglyceride content. restored mucosal barrier and reduced LPS translocation by enhancing mucus thickness and production of Mucin2. Furthermore, up-regulated (GLP-1) expression and restored ethanol-induced (FGF15) down-regulation. Lipid metabolism was consequently affected as administration reduced fatty acid synthesis (FA) and improved FA oxidation and lipid exportation. Moreover, treatment with preserved the mitochondrial fitness and redox state in alcohol-fed mice. In conclusion, recovery of ethanol-induced depletion by oral supplementation was associated with restored intestinal homeostasis and ameliorated experimental ALD. could serve as a novel probiotic to treat ALD in the future.
Topics: Animals; Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron; Ethanol; Fatty Liver; Gastrointestinal Microbiome; Liver Diseases; Mice; Triglycerides
PubMed: 35786161
DOI: 10.1080/19490976.2022.2089006 -
Nutrients Sep 2022The consumption of alcohol is associated with well-known health harms and many governments worldwide are actively engaged in devising approaches to reduce them. To this... (Review)
Review
The consumption of alcohol is associated with well-known health harms and many governments worldwide are actively engaged in devising approaches to reduce them. To this end, a common proposed strategy aims at reducing alcohol consumption. This approach has led to the development of non-alcoholic drinks, which have been especially welcome by younger, wealthier, health-conscious consumers, who have been turning away from alcohol to look toward alternatives. However, a drawback of non-alcoholic drinks is that they do not facilitate social interaction in the way alcohol does, which is the main reason behind social drinking. Therefore, an alternative approach is to develop functional drinks that do not use alcohol yet mimic the positive, pro-social effects of alcohol without the associated harms. This article will discuss (1) current knowledge of how alcohol mediates its effects in the brain, both the desirable, e.g., antistress to facilitate social interactions, and the harmful ones, with a specific focus on the pivotal role played by the gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) neurotransmitter system and (2) how this knowledge can be exploited to develop functional safe alternatives to alcohol using either molecules already existing in nature or synthetic ones. This discussion will be complemented by an analysis of the regulatory challenges associated with the novel endeavour of bringing safe, functional alternatives to alcohol from the bench to bars.
Topics: Alcohol Drinking; Brain; Ethanol; gamma-Aminobutyric Acid
PubMed: 36145137
DOI: 10.3390/nu14183761