Interrelationships of alcohol intake with blood vitamin status in nonalcoholic subjects

Abstract

The vitamin status was investigated in 157 healthy men, aged 20 to 60 years and recruited in the Centre for Preventive Medicine of Dijon (France), by means of a dietary survey and biochemical studies. Subjects were grouped according to their usual alcohol intake: 0 g/d, 0.1–39 g/d, 40–79 g/d, and 79+ g/d. The 1992 French Recommended Dietary Allowance (FRDA) was used to assess adequacy of intake. Drinkers had similar intakes of total calories than nondrinkers. Calories derived from ingested alcohol appeared to replace carbohydrate as a source of energy in drinkers. Thiamin, riboflavin, folate, and vitamin A mean intakes decreased significantly when alcohol intake increased. The serum concentration of retinol and retinol-binding protein was significantly higher in drinkers than in nondrinkers. Drinkers did not have a higher risk rate for a biochemical vitamin deficiency of thiamin, riboflavin, vitamin B 6, folate, vitamin B 12, vitamin C, vitamin A, and vitamin E than the nondrinkers. The percentage of subjects with plasma 25(OH)D < 10 nmol/L was high (≈33%) in subjects drinking 79+ g alcohol/d, which indicated a high risk of deficiency of vitamin D in this group.