Iournal
o! Studies on Alcohol, Vol. 39, No. II,
1978
Ethanol Metabolismand Memory Impairment in American Indian and White Women Social Drinkers
JohnJ. Farrisand Ben MorganJones,Ph.D. SUMMAaY.AmericanIndian women metabolizeda moderatedose of ethanol signi#cantlymore rapidly than did White womeno/ similarage, education,weight and drinkinghistory;however,the two groupsdemonstrated a similarmemorydecrement due to ethanol.
Severalstudieshavebeenconductedin recentyearscomparingethanol metabolismin American Indian and White men, but there have been no studiesexplicitlycomparingethanolmetabolismin American Indian and White women.The studiesof men generallyreport that American Indians metabolizealcoholmore rapidly than do Whites. Bennion and Li (1) reported that American Indians showed a faster decreasein plasmaalcoholconcentration than did a groupof Whites. However,the Indians were significantlyheavier than the Whites, and when this factor was considered,no significantdifference was obtained between the two
groupsin rate of alcoholmetabolism.Reed et al. (2) reportedfaster ethanolmetabolismin Ojibwa Indians in Canada than in a group of Whites.Zeineret al. (3) reportedthat the TarahumaraIndiansof Mexico had a lowerbloodalcoholconcentration (Bac) 40 min postdrinkingthan did a groupof Whites,indicatinga more rapid ethanolmetabolismrate in the Tarahumaras.Farris and Jones(4, 5), controllingfor suchfactors as age, education,weight and drinkinghistory,reportedsignificantly fasterethanolmetabolismin a groupof AmericanIndiansthan in Whites. Althoughone study (6) found the declineof Bac and the ethanolmetabolism rate to be slower in Eskimos and Indians in Canada than in
Whites, it is clear that theseresultsare in the minority. The over-all resultsof these studiestend to point to faster ethanol metabolismin the Indian groups. • From the OklahomaCenterfor Alcoholand Drug RelatedStudies,Universityof OklahomaHealth SciencesCenter,OklahomaCity, Oklahoma73104. This investigation was supported in part by U.S. Public Health Service Grant No. AA01444 from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism under the direction of Ben Morgan Jones.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTs.--We thank Marilyn K. Jones, Kim Arkeketa and Carla
Longhornfor their valuableassistance in the design,subjecttesting,data analysis and editing of this study. Reprint requeststo Ben MorganJones,Ph.D., Carrier Foundation,Departmentof Research,Belle Mead, New Jersey08502. Receivedfor publication:15 November1977. Revision:9 August 1978. 1975
1976
JOVR•AL OF STUDIES ON ALCOHOL
The Indian subjectsin the previouslydiscussedstudieswere all men,
exceptin the studyby Bennionand Li (1). In their study,7 women were includedin the total subjectpopulationof 30. However,the data on men and womenwere combinedand not presentedseparately.It wouldbe interesting to determinewhetherthe resultswith mensubjects couldbe replicatedwith womensubicts.If so, it would strengthenthe evidence suggestingthat American Indians metabolize ethanol more rapidlythan do Whites. The presentstudywasdirectedat examiningethanolmetabolism rates
in AmericanIndianand White womenof similarage,education, weight and drinkinghistory.PeakBACs and absorption ratesalsowere examined. A memory task previouslyreported to be sensitiveto the effects of ethanol (7, 8) was administeredto evaluatethe objectivebehavioral effectsof ethanolin the two groups. METHOD
Subiects.The subjectswere 30 women,paid volunteersocialdrinkers.Fifteen were full-bloodedAmericanIndiansand each suppliedinformationas to the tribe or tribes to which she belonged 2 The other 15 were Whites and reported no Indian ancestry.The two groupswere matchedon age, education, weight and drinking history. Subjectsin the two groupswere also matched as to the phase of the menstrualcycle. All the women were menstruating normallyand none were taking oral contraceptives. The mean age of the Indians was 22.00 ___ 2.62 years (range, 18-28) and of the Whites, 22.73 ___ 2.15 (range, 18-26). The mean number of years of educationin both groupswas 14. The mean height of the Indian women was 164.59ñ 5.10 cm and of the Whites163.91ñ 6.64 cm. Mean bodyweight of the two groupswas very similar,the Indiansweighinga mean of 63.39 ñ 12.33 kg (range, 45.55-90.91) and the Whites weighing a mean of 64.15 ñ 11.33 kg (range, 50.00-88.18). The body leanness(cM/kg '•3•) (2) of the two groupswas alsovery similar,the Indianshavinga mean of 41.62 ñ 2.34 and the Whites having a mean of 41.23 ñ 2.30.
Procedure.Subiectswere instructedto obtain a regular night'ssleepbefore the testingday and not to drink any alcoholor take any drugsfor 24 hr precedingthe day of testing.They alsowere askedto fast for 4 hr before reportingto the laboratory.Interviewswith the subiectsindicated they had compliedwith theserequests.
The subjects received0.52 g of 95• USP ethanolper kg of body •veight mixedwith orangedrink in the ratio of 4 parts of orangedrink to i part of ethanol.They were given 5 min to consumethe drink, sincedrinking tinhe has been reported to be related to ethanol metabolism(9). Each subject was testedindividually and remainedin the laboratoryuntil a BACof zero was obtained.
Test. The influenceof ethanolon performancewas examinedby testing the 30 subjectson a free-recallverbal memorytask. Subjectswere testedbe•Their tribal affiliations were: Otoe-Creek-Iowa, 3; Kiowa, 2; Kiowa-CaddoDelaware,2; Choctaw-Chickasaw,1; Comanche-Delaware-Shawnee, 1; Comanche, 1; Kiowa-Otoe, 1; Shoshone-Bannock, 1; Laguna Pueblo, 1; Choctaw, 1; and Comanche-Paiute,1.
BRIEF REPORTS
1977
fore drinkingethanol(baseline)and alsoon the ascending and descending limbs of the blood alcoholcurve. A total of '216 monosyllabichigh-frequency nounswere drawn from the Thorndike-Lorge(10) AA lists and randomly
assigned to 18 listswith 12 wordsper list. Six listswith 12 wordsper list weregivenfor eachof the 3 testingconditions. The total numberof correct wordsrecalledfrom the 6 lists individuallyservedas a measureof immediate memory.A measureof short-termmemorywas determinedby waiting 1 min after recall of the 6th list and then giving the subject5 rain to recall as
manyof the 72 wordsfromall 6 listsas shecould.A comparison of baseline and ascending limb performance was carriedout sincethe greatesteffects of ethanolon memoryoccur on the ascendinglimb (7, 8). Breath Samples.Breath sampleswere taken with the Omicron Intoxi-
lyzer (Model 4011). High correlations betweendirect blood analysesand Intoxilyzerbreathsamples(r = .98) have been reported(11). All subjects had zero ,,cs before they began to drink. Each subjectrinsed her mouth with water immediatelyafter drinking to clear it of residualethanol.Breath sampleswere then taken every 3 to 5 min as the bloodalcohollevel was increasing.Once peak ,,c (highestvalid reading) was achieved,breath sampleswere taken at approximately10- to 15min intervalsuntil a zero B•,c was obtained.To determinethe peak Bac and to calculatethe alcoholdisappearance and absorptionrates,a total of 25 to 30 breath readingswere recordedthroughoutthe afternoonfor each subject. MetabolismRate.Two methodswere employedto assess ethanolmetabolism. The ethanoldisappearance rate was calculatedby insertingall •ACSfrom peak to zeroin a linearregression equation.The rate of fall of the •AC wasmeasured by the slopeof the line, •s,which was multipliedby 60 to obtainthe rate of
changeper hour.The eliminationrate of ethanolwas calculatedby dividing the milligrams of ethanolgivento the subjectby her bodyweightin kilograms and then dividingby the numberof hoursit took to reach a zero •,c. AbsorptionRate. An over-all absorptionrate was determinedby dividing
thepeak•,c by thetimeto reachpeakandexpressing thisasper centper hour. RESULTS
Verbal Memory Task On the immediatememorytask,the mean ( -•- SD) scoresOf the Indian women were 37.43 -•- 7.28 before alcohol and 33.50 -•- 7.87 after alcohol.
The scoresof the White women were, respectively,38.07-•-5.95 and 33.20___ 5.97.On the short-termmemorytask, the Indian women'smean scores were 20.43 -•- 6.09 and 10.50 -•- 5.75 and those of the White women were 21.20 -•- 6.55 and 10.13 ___5.08.
A significantmain effect of alcoholon memorywas found for both immediate (F ----25.56, 1/27 dr, p < .01) and short-term(F -- 105.87, 1/27 dr, p < .01) memory.A significantgroupeffectwasnot obtained, indicatingthat the AmericanIndian andWhite womenwere not affected differentlyby ethanol. Ethanol
Metabolism
Rates
The ethanolmetabolismrates of the t;vo groupsof women are presentedin Table 1. Both ethanol disappearanceand ethanol elimination
1978
JOURNALOF STUDIESON ALCOHOL
were significantly fasterin the Indian groupthan in the White group. It is clear that the American Indian women metabolized alcohol sig-
nificantlyfasterthan did the Whites,which is consistent with what has previouslybeen reportedin men (2-5). Peak BACs and AbsorptionRate
PeakBAGS, time to reachpeakand absorption rate alsoare presented in Table 1. The peak RACSin the Indian and White groupswere not
significantly different.The meantime from beginningof drinkingto peakRACwasslightlyfasterin the Indiansthan in the Whites,but not significantly different.The absorption rate was very similarin the two groups.Thesedata demonstrate that althoughthe two groupsdiffer in rate of ethanolmetabolism, they are quite similarin peak RAC,time to reach peak and absorptionrate. Drinking History
Sincethe previous drinkinghistories of the subjects couldpossiblybe relatedto the groupdifferences observed, the drinkinghistoriesof each subjectwere examined by convertingthe averageamountof beverage alcoholconsumed per monthto millilitersof absolute ethanol.Therewas no significant difference in the meannumberof millilitersof ethanolconsumedper month betweenthe Indian (201.56___ 157.63) and White groups(228.82___ 291.44). DISCUSSION
The resultsof thisstudyindicatethat AmericanIndianwomenmetabolize ethanolmore rapidly than do matchedgroupsof White women, which is consistentwith the results o[ studies of Indian and White men
The dataœrom the memorytasksindicatethat both groupso[ women TABLE1.--Mean(_ SD) EthanolMetabolism Rates,PeakBACs,Timeto Reach PeakBAC and AbsorptionRatesin AmericanIndian and White Women Social Drinkers, and Results of t Tests Elimination
American Indians
Whites
138.01 _ 21.25
110.44 _ 17.18
3.91t
--0.018 ___ 0.003 288.40 _ 41.97 0.075 _ 0.015
3.35t 4.00t 0.77
rate
(mg per kg per hr) Disappearance rate
(g per hour) --0.021 ___0.003 Time to zero BAC (min) 231.13 _ 36.26 Peak BAC (g) 0.070 ___0.017 Time to peak (min) 40.13 _ 17.73 Absorptionrate (g per hr) 0.128 _ 0.060
51.27
_ 26.19
0.121 _
0.102
1.36
0.12
BRIEF REPORTS
1979
were equally affectedby ethanol.Similar data have been reportedfor AmericanIndian and White men (5). Thus, it does not seem that differencesin the rate of ethanolmetabolismin these two groupsare related to behavioraldifferenceson cognitivetests,at leastat this relatively low •AC.
An importantextensionof thesefindingswould be to comparegroups of AmericanIndians from different tribes, since there may be a great variabilityin the rate of ethanolmetabolism.It alsowould be interesting to determinethe relationshipof the menstrualcycle to the effects of alcohol on behavior
in American
Indian
women
as has been done with
Whites (8, 12). Since White women taking oral contraceptiveshave beenreported(8, 12) to metabolizealcoholmore slowlythan thosenot taking birth controlpills, it would be interestingto investigatethis difference in groups of American Indian women. The resultsof the presentstudycouldhelp to dispelthe stereotypeof the "drunkenIndian," becausethey indicate that ethanol affectsAmericanIndian and White womensimilarly,as demonstrated by performance on verbal memory task. Also, the resultsobtained give added support to the evidencethat AmericanIndiansmetabolizeethanolmore rapidly than do Whites. REFERENCES
1. BENN•ON,L. J. and L•, T. K. Alcohol metabolismin American Indians and Whites; lack of racial differencesin metabolic rate and liver alcohol dehydrogenase.New Engl. J. Med. 294: 9-13, 1976. 2. REED,W. E., KALANT,H., GIBBINS,R. J., KAPUR,B. M. and RANKIN,J. G. Alcohol and acetaldehydemetabolism in Caucasians,Chinese and Amerinds. Can. Med. Ass. J. 115: 851-855, 1976. 3. ZEINER,A. R., PAREOES, A. and COWDEN,L. Physiologicresponsesto ethanol among the TarahumaraIndians. Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 273: 151-158, 1976. 4. FARRIS,J. J. and JONES,B. M. Ethanol metabolismin male American Indians and Whites. Alcsm, Clin. Exp. Res. 2: 77-81, 1978. 5. FARRIS,J. J. and JONES,B. M. Ethanol metabolismand memory impairmentin AmericanIndians and Caucasians. Alc. Tech. Rep. 6: 1-4, 1977. 6. FENNA,D., Mix, L., SCHAEFER, O. and GILBERT,J. A. L. Ethanolmetabolism in various racial groups. Can. Med. Ass. J. 105: 472--475, 1971. 7. JONES,B. M. Memory impairmenton the ascendingand descendinglimbs of the blood alcohol curve. J. Abnorm. Psychol.82: 24-32, 1973. 8. JONES,B. M. and JONES,M. K. Alcohol effects in women during the menstrual cycle. Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 273.. 576-587, 1976. 9. JONES,B. M. and VECA, A. Fast and slow drinkers; blood alcohol variables and cognitiveperformance.Quart. J. Stud. Alcohol 34: 797-806, 1973. 10. THORNDItto,E. L. and LORCE,I. The teacher'sword book of 30,000 words. New York; Bureau of Publications,Teachers College, Columbia University; 1944.
11. DvBowsKI, K. M. Studies in breath-alcohol analysis; biological factors. Z. Rechtsmed.76: 93-117, 1975. 12. JONES,B. M., JONES,M. K. and PAlmDES,A. Oral contraceptivesand ethanol metabolism.Alc. Tech. Rep. 5: 28-32, 1976.
o! Studies on Alcohol, Vol. 39, No. II,
1978
Ethanol Metabolismand Memory Impairment in American Indian and White Women Social Drinkers
JohnJ. Farrisand Ben MorganJones,Ph.D. SUMMAaY.AmericanIndian women metabolizeda moderatedose of ethanol signi#cantlymore rapidly than did White womeno/ similarage, education,weight and drinkinghistory;however,the two groupsdemonstrated a similarmemorydecrement due to ethanol.
Severalstudieshavebeenconductedin recentyearscomparingethanol metabolismin American Indian and White men, but there have been no studiesexplicitlycomparingethanolmetabolismin American Indian and White women.The studiesof men generallyreport that American Indians metabolizealcoholmore rapidly than do Whites. Bennion and Li (1) reported that American Indians showed a faster decreasein plasmaalcoholconcentration than did a groupof Whites. However,the Indians were significantlyheavier than the Whites, and when this factor was considered,no significantdifference was obtained between the two
groupsin rate of alcoholmetabolism.Reed et al. (2) reportedfaster ethanolmetabolismin Ojibwa Indians in Canada than in a group of Whites.Zeineret al. (3) reportedthat the TarahumaraIndiansof Mexico had a lowerbloodalcoholconcentration (Bac) 40 min postdrinkingthan did a groupof Whites,indicatinga more rapid ethanolmetabolismrate in the Tarahumaras.Farris and Jones(4, 5), controllingfor suchfactors as age, education,weight and drinkinghistory,reportedsignificantly fasterethanolmetabolismin a groupof AmericanIndiansthan in Whites. Althoughone study (6) found the declineof Bac and the ethanolmetabolism rate to be slower in Eskimos and Indians in Canada than in
Whites, it is clear that theseresultsare in the minority. The over-all resultsof these studiestend to point to faster ethanol metabolismin the Indian groups. • From the OklahomaCenterfor Alcoholand Drug RelatedStudies,Universityof OklahomaHealth SciencesCenter,OklahomaCity, Oklahoma73104. This investigation was supported in part by U.S. Public Health Service Grant No. AA01444 from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism under the direction of Ben Morgan Jones.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTs.--We thank Marilyn K. Jones, Kim Arkeketa and Carla
Longhornfor their valuableassistance in the design,subjecttesting,data analysis and editing of this study. Reprint requeststo Ben MorganJones,Ph.D., Carrier Foundation,Departmentof Research,Belle Mead, New Jersey08502. Receivedfor publication:15 November1977. Revision:9 August 1978. 1975
1976
JOVR•AL OF STUDIES ON ALCOHOL
The Indian subjectsin the previouslydiscussedstudieswere all men,
exceptin the studyby Bennionand Li (1). In their study,7 women were includedin the total subjectpopulationof 30. However,the data on men and womenwere combinedand not presentedseparately.It wouldbe interesting to determinewhetherthe resultswith mensubjects couldbe replicatedwith womensubicts.If so, it would strengthenthe evidence suggestingthat American Indians metabolize ethanol more rapidlythan do Whites. The presentstudywasdirectedat examiningethanolmetabolism rates
in AmericanIndianand White womenof similarage,education, weight and drinkinghistory.PeakBACs and absorption ratesalsowere examined. A memory task previouslyreported to be sensitiveto the effects of ethanol (7, 8) was administeredto evaluatethe objectivebehavioral effectsof ethanolin the two groups. METHOD
Subiects.The subjectswere 30 women,paid volunteersocialdrinkers.Fifteen were full-bloodedAmericanIndiansand each suppliedinformationas to the tribe or tribes to which she belonged 2 The other 15 were Whites and reported no Indian ancestry.The two groupswere matchedon age, education, weight and drinking history. Subjectsin the two groupswere also matched as to the phase of the menstrualcycle. All the women were menstruating normallyand none were taking oral contraceptives. The mean age of the Indians was 22.00 ___ 2.62 years (range, 18-28) and of the Whites, 22.73 ___ 2.15 (range, 18-26). The mean number of years of educationin both groupswas 14. The mean height of the Indian women was 164.59ñ 5.10 cm and of the Whites163.91ñ 6.64 cm. Mean bodyweight of the two groupswas very similar,the Indiansweighinga mean of 63.39 ñ 12.33 kg (range, 45.55-90.91) and the Whites weighing a mean of 64.15 ñ 11.33 kg (range, 50.00-88.18). The body leanness(cM/kg '•3•) (2) of the two groupswas alsovery similar,the Indianshavinga mean of 41.62 ñ 2.34 and the Whites having a mean of 41.23 ñ 2.30.
Procedure.Subiectswere instructedto obtain a regular night'ssleepbefore the testingday and not to drink any alcoholor take any drugsfor 24 hr precedingthe day of testing.They alsowere askedto fast for 4 hr before reportingto the laboratory.Interviewswith the subiectsindicated they had compliedwith theserequests.
The subjects received0.52 g of 95• USP ethanolper kg of body •veight mixedwith orangedrink in the ratio of 4 parts of orangedrink to i part of ethanol.They were given 5 min to consumethe drink, sincedrinking tinhe has been reported to be related to ethanol metabolism(9). Each subject was testedindividually and remainedin the laboratoryuntil a BACof zero was obtained.
Test. The influenceof ethanolon performancewas examinedby testing the 30 subjectson a free-recallverbal memorytask. Subjectswere testedbe•Their tribal affiliations were: Otoe-Creek-Iowa, 3; Kiowa, 2; Kiowa-CaddoDelaware,2; Choctaw-Chickasaw,1; Comanche-Delaware-Shawnee, 1; Comanche, 1; Kiowa-Otoe, 1; Shoshone-Bannock, 1; Laguna Pueblo, 1; Choctaw, 1; and Comanche-Paiute,1.
BRIEF REPORTS
1977
fore drinkingethanol(baseline)and alsoon the ascending and descending limbs of the blood alcoholcurve. A total of '216 monosyllabichigh-frequency nounswere drawn from the Thorndike-Lorge(10) AA lists and randomly
assigned to 18 listswith 12 wordsper list. Six listswith 12 wordsper list weregivenfor eachof the 3 testingconditions. The total numberof correct wordsrecalledfrom the 6 lists individuallyservedas a measureof immediate memory.A measureof short-termmemorywas determinedby waiting 1 min after recall of the 6th list and then giving the subject5 rain to recall as
manyof the 72 wordsfromall 6 listsas shecould.A comparison of baseline and ascending limb performance was carriedout sincethe greatesteffects of ethanolon memoryoccur on the ascendinglimb (7, 8). Breath Samples.Breath sampleswere taken with the Omicron Intoxi-
lyzer (Model 4011). High correlations betweendirect blood analysesand Intoxilyzerbreathsamples(r = .98) have been reported(11). All subjects had zero ,,cs before they began to drink. Each subjectrinsed her mouth with water immediatelyafter drinking to clear it of residualethanol.Breath sampleswere then taken every 3 to 5 min as the bloodalcohollevel was increasing.Once peak ,,c (highestvalid reading) was achieved,breath sampleswere taken at approximately10- to 15min intervalsuntil a zero B•,c was obtained.To determinethe peak Bac and to calculatethe alcoholdisappearance and absorptionrates,a total of 25 to 30 breath readingswere recordedthroughoutthe afternoonfor each subject. MetabolismRate.Two methodswere employedto assess ethanolmetabolism. The ethanoldisappearance rate was calculatedby insertingall •ACSfrom peak to zeroin a linearregression equation.The rate of fall of the •AC wasmeasured by the slopeof the line, •s,which was multipliedby 60 to obtainthe rate of
changeper hour.The eliminationrate of ethanolwas calculatedby dividing the milligrams of ethanolgivento the subjectby her bodyweightin kilograms and then dividingby the numberof hoursit took to reach a zero •,c. AbsorptionRate. An over-all absorptionrate was determinedby dividing
thepeak•,c by thetimeto reachpeakandexpressing thisasper centper hour. RESULTS
Verbal Memory Task On the immediatememorytask,the mean ( -•- SD) scoresOf the Indian women were 37.43 -•- 7.28 before alcohol and 33.50 -•- 7.87 after alcohol.
The scoresof the White women were, respectively,38.07-•-5.95 and 33.20___ 5.97.On the short-termmemorytask, the Indian women'smean scores were 20.43 -•- 6.09 and 10.50 -•- 5.75 and those of the White women were 21.20 -•- 6.55 and 10.13 ___5.08.
A significantmain effect of alcoholon memorywas found for both immediate (F ----25.56, 1/27 dr, p < .01) and short-term(F -- 105.87, 1/27 dr, p < .01) memory.A significantgroupeffectwasnot obtained, indicatingthat the AmericanIndian andWhite womenwere not affected differentlyby ethanol. Ethanol
Metabolism
Rates
The ethanolmetabolismrates of the t;vo groupsof women are presentedin Table 1. Both ethanol disappearanceand ethanol elimination
1978
JOURNALOF STUDIESON ALCOHOL
were significantly fasterin the Indian groupthan in the White group. It is clear that the American Indian women metabolized alcohol sig-
nificantlyfasterthan did the Whites,which is consistent with what has previouslybeen reportedin men (2-5). Peak BACs and AbsorptionRate
PeakBAGS, time to reachpeakand absorption rate alsoare presented in Table 1. The peak RACSin the Indian and White groupswere not
significantly different.The meantime from beginningof drinkingto peakRACwasslightlyfasterin the Indiansthan in the Whites,but not significantly different.The absorption rate was very similarin the two groups.Thesedata demonstrate that althoughthe two groupsdiffer in rate of ethanolmetabolism, they are quite similarin peak RAC,time to reach peak and absorptionrate. Drinking History
Sincethe previous drinkinghistories of the subjects couldpossiblybe relatedto the groupdifferences observed, the drinkinghistoriesof each subjectwere examined by convertingthe averageamountof beverage alcoholconsumed per monthto millilitersof absolute ethanol.Therewas no significant difference in the meannumberof millilitersof ethanolconsumedper month betweenthe Indian (201.56___ 157.63) and White groups(228.82___ 291.44). DISCUSSION
The resultsof thisstudyindicatethat AmericanIndianwomenmetabolize ethanolmore rapidly than do matchedgroupsof White women, which is consistentwith the results o[ studies of Indian and White men
The dataœrom the memorytasksindicatethat both groupso[ women TABLE1.--Mean(_ SD) EthanolMetabolism Rates,PeakBACs,Timeto Reach PeakBAC and AbsorptionRatesin AmericanIndian and White Women Social Drinkers, and Results of t Tests Elimination
American Indians
Whites
138.01 _ 21.25
110.44 _ 17.18
3.91t
--0.018 ___ 0.003 288.40 _ 41.97 0.075 _ 0.015
3.35t 4.00t 0.77
rate
(mg per kg per hr) Disappearance rate
(g per hour) --0.021 ___0.003 Time to zero BAC (min) 231.13 _ 36.26 Peak BAC (g) 0.070 ___0.017 Time to peak (min) 40.13 _ 17.73 Absorptionrate (g per hr) 0.128 _ 0.060
51.27
_ 26.19
0.121 _
0.102
1.36
0.12
BRIEF REPORTS
1979
were equally affectedby ethanol.Similar data have been reportedfor AmericanIndian and White men (5). Thus, it does not seem that differencesin the rate of ethanolmetabolismin these two groupsare related to behavioraldifferenceson cognitivetests,at leastat this relatively low •AC.
An importantextensionof thesefindingswould be to comparegroups of AmericanIndians from different tribes, since there may be a great variabilityin the rate of ethanolmetabolism.It alsowould be interesting to determinethe relationshipof the menstrualcycle to the effects of alcohol on behavior
in American
Indian
women
as has been done with
Whites (8, 12). Since White women taking oral contraceptiveshave beenreported(8, 12) to metabolizealcoholmore slowlythan thosenot taking birth controlpills, it would be interestingto investigatethis difference in groups of American Indian women. The resultsof the presentstudycouldhelp to dispelthe stereotypeof the "drunkenIndian," becausethey indicate that ethanol affectsAmericanIndian and White womensimilarly,as demonstrated by performance on verbal memory task. Also, the resultsobtained give added support to the evidencethat AmericanIndiansmetabolizeethanolmore rapidly than do Whites. REFERENCES
1. BENN•ON,L. J. and L•, T. K. Alcohol metabolismin American Indians and Whites; lack of racial differencesin metabolic rate and liver alcohol dehydrogenase.New Engl. J. Med. 294: 9-13, 1976. 2. REED,W. E., KALANT,H., GIBBINS,R. J., KAPUR,B. M. and RANKIN,J. G. Alcohol and acetaldehydemetabolism in Caucasians,Chinese and Amerinds. Can. Med. Ass. J. 115: 851-855, 1976. 3. ZEINER,A. R., PAREOES, A. and COWDEN,L. Physiologicresponsesto ethanol among the TarahumaraIndians. Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 273: 151-158, 1976. 4. FARRIS,J. J. and JONES,B. M. Ethanol metabolismin male American Indians and Whites. Alcsm, Clin. Exp. Res. 2: 77-81, 1978. 5. FARRIS,J. J. and JONES,B. M. Ethanol metabolismand memory impairmentin AmericanIndians and Caucasians. Alc. Tech. Rep. 6: 1-4, 1977. 6. FENNA,D., Mix, L., SCHAEFER, O. and GILBERT,J. A. L. Ethanolmetabolism in various racial groups. Can. Med. Ass. J. 105: 472--475, 1971. 7. JONES,B. M. Memory impairmenton the ascendingand descendinglimbs of the blood alcohol curve. J. Abnorm. Psychol.82: 24-32, 1973. 8. JONES,B. M. and JONES,M. K. Alcohol effects in women during the menstrual cycle. Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 273.. 576-587, 1976. 9. JONES,B. M. and VECA, A. Fast and slow drinkers; blood alcohol variables and cognitiveperformance.Quart. J. Stud. Alcohol 34: 797-806, 1973. 10. THORNDItto,E. L. and LORCE,I. The teacher'sword book of 30,000 words. New York; Bureau of Publications,Teachers College, Columbia University; 1944.
11. DvBowsKI, K. M. Studies in breath-alcohol analysis; biological factors. Z. Rechtsmed.76: 93-117, 1975. 12. JONES,B. M., JONES,M. K. and PAlmDES,A. Oral contraceptivesand ethanol metabolism.Alc. Tech. Rep. 5: 28-32, 1976.
