Vitamin profile in rats fed stock or liquid ethanolic diets

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Abstract
Acute and chronic effects of ethanol (ETOH) on folates, vitamins B12 and B6, riboflavin, nicotinates, pantothenate, thiamin, and biotin titers was determined in blood and liver of rats given different “nutritionally adequate” diets. One diet (liquid) contained carbohydrate (control); in another diet, carbohydrate was replaced isocalorically with ETOH equal to 36% of the calories. Other rats were fed a chow ration with ETOH (6 g/kg) or a control-sucrose (isocaloric to 6 g/kg ETOH) administered intragastrically as a single dose every day for 28 days. A single dose of ETOH (6 g/kg) was given to a group of rats 28 days after feeding of the respective control diet. Compared to the liquid diet with carbohydrate, rats fed the liquid diet with ETOH isocalorically replacing 36% of the carbohydrate had depressed blood thiamin, B12, folates, and elevated levels of biotin and vitamin B6; liver thiamin was depressed while folates and biotin titers increased. Compared with rats on the chow-sucrose diet, rats on the chow-ETOH diet showed depressed folates and thiamin similar to rats fed the liquid-ETOH diet. In contrast to rats fed the liquid-ETOH diet, blood B12 titer was not decreased nor was blood biotin increased. Liver folates in rats on the chow-ETOH diet increased whereas thiamin decreased. Except for a depression of liver thiamin in rats fed the chow-ETOH diet, no significant deviations in blood or liver vitamins were noted in rats given a single dose of ETOH (6 g/kg) after feeding the control diet for 28 days. Conclusion: nutritionally “adequate” diets for rats become inadequate when the diets are also chronically high in ETOH.