CARBOHYDRATE-DEFICIENT TRANSFERRIN AS A MARKER OF ALCOHOL INTAKE: A STUDY WITH HEALTHY SUBJECTS

This paper reports the results of a 3-week drinking experimentin 51 healthy male subjects, examining the value of %CDT (carbohydrate-deficienttransferring in the context of different levels of alcohol intake.All healthy persons were urine-tested drug-free and underwentdaily breath alcohol tests for the 7 days preceding, and duringthe whole 3 weeks of, the experiment. Subjects were dividedinto five groups, consuming different amounts of alcohol dailyover a 3-h period in the presence of the investigators. Thefive groups consisted of 10, 9, 10, 16 and 6 subjects respectivelyand consumed a daily dose of ethanol of 20, 40, 60, 80 and 80g respectively for 3 weeks. No significant changes in %CDT weredetected in most subjects, even in the 80 g alcohol-consuminggroups. The results suggest that CDT is not sensitive for thedetection of short-term heavy drinking by healthy subjects.