Dietary factors such as the consumption of tryptophan, the precursor of serotonin, or sugar, may play an important role in influencing alcohol-induced impairment. Study I used an amino acid diet to manipulate plasma tryptophan in male social drinkers in a 3 (supplemented, balanced, and depleted tryptophan) x 3 (alcohol, placebo, sober) design with 12 subjects per cell. A variety of mood, memory, and psychomotor performance measures were taken at baseline, five hours after amino acid ingestion, and after alcohol consumption. Strong alcohol effects were produced but no tryptophan, nor alcohol-tryptophan interaction effects were found. / Study II examined the combined effects of sucrose and alcohol in a 3 (100 g sugar, 35 g sugar, 0 g sugar) x 3 (alcohol, placebo, sober) design with 15 subjects per cell. Subjects were tested on tasks similar to those used in Study I at a variety of times following intoxication (i.e., 0.5 hours, 1.5 h, 3.5 h) in order to examine effects when blood glucose peaked as well as at a point when hypoglycemic rebound can occur in some subjects. A strong alcohol x sugar interaction was seen 0.5 h after drinking, with high doses of sugar attenuating intoxication without influencing blood alcohol levels. No hypoglycemia was produced after 3.5 h. / Study III replicated Study II using a simpler design which controlled for the possible effects of aspartame (the placebo sweetener used in Study II). A variety of gastric or central mechanisms, which can account for the finding that sucrose can reduce the intoxicating effects of ethanol, are discussed.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.75345 |
| Date | January 1987 |
| Creators | Zacchia, Camillo. |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Department of Psychology.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 000419401, proquestno: AAINL38189, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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