M. Frezza, C. di Padova, G. Pozzato, M. Terpin, et al., "High blood alcohol levels in women: The role of decreased gastric alcohol dehydrogenase activity and first-pass metabolism," New England Journal of Medicine, 322:95-99, 1990.
Charles S. Lieber (Bronx Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, New York): "We had shown before that gastric alcohol dehydrogenase activity contributes significantly to alcohol metabolism in men, and therefore represents some `protective' barrier against the penetration of alcohol into the body. This paper now reports a lower barrier and higher blood levels in women than in men for the same amount of alcohol. This observation attracted interest because it may help explain women's increased susceptibility to alcohol-induced complications, including liver disease.
"We also had reported previously that some commonly used drugs, such as H2 blockers or aspirin, increase blood alcohol levels by inhibiting gastric alcohol dehydrogenase activity. Our findings now ...
