Alcohol and alcoholism : international journal of the Medical Council on Alcoholism
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In psychiatric practice, lithium prevents manic depressives recidivism. Lithium could also be useful in non-manic-depressive conditions with a reduction of aggression and impulsivity. From the observation that alcoholics often present mood swings and impulsivity, several authors studied the effects of maintenance doses of lithium on alcohol intake and the depressive symptoms of alcoholics. ⋯ Most of the recent studies failed to demonstrate a significant effect of lithium on the depressive symptoms of alcoholics. Thus, it is now established that lithium is not an effective treatment of affective disorders in alcoholics. The latest published studies also suggest that lithium treatment does not decrease alcohol intake or craving for alcohol in either depressed or non-depressed alcoholics.
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A recently developed three-compartment model for the absorption and elimination of ingested alcohol was applied to re-analyse a study on the effects of various factors known to influence the blood-alcohol curve. The absorption and elimination of alcohol after drinking diluted alcohol were studied in healthy volunteers under strictly standardized conditions. The factors studied were sex, dose, concentration, physical exercise, meal consumption before drinking, energy content and composition of the meal, and time of drinking in relation to meal consumption. ⋯ Using alcohol during the meal accelerated gastric emptying and reduced absorption efficiency as well as rate of elimination. High-fat meals resulted in the highest gastric emptying rate and rate of absorption from the small intestine, whereas high-protein and high-sucrose meals resulted in the lowest gastric emptying rate. Simultaneous consumption of a high-sucrose meal and alcohol increased gastric emptying delay.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)