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The Acute Effect of Ethanol on Counterregulatory Response and Recovery From Insulin-Induced Hypoglycemia^*

Department of Medicine and Diabetology, Warsaw Medical School, Second Faculty of Medicine, Brodnowski Hospital (J.W.K.) Warsaw, Poland
The Research Laboratories of the Finnish State Alcohol Co. (R. Y.), and the Department of Clinical Chemistry (M.H.) and Third Department of Medicine (V.A.K.), Helsinki University Hospital Helsinki, Finland

Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Veikko A. Koivisto, M.D., Third Department of Medicine, Helsinki University Hospital, Haartmaninkatu 4, 00290 Helsinki, Finland.

We examined the acute effect of moderate ethanol administration (oral and iv) on the counterregulatory response and recovery from insulin-induced hypoglycemia after an overnight fast in eight normal men, aged 26 ± 6 yr. While ethanol increased fasting plasma glucose and serum insulin concentrations, after insulin administration plasma glucose concentrations fell to similar nadirs in the ethanol [2.5 ± 0.2 (±SE) mmol/L] and control studies (2.3 ± 0.1 mmol/L). The hypoglycemia-induced serum GH, cortisol, and glucagon responses were all reduced (P < 0.05–0.005) during the ethanol study, while the rises in plasma epinephrine and norepinephrine concentrations were similar in both studies. After discontinuation of the insulin infusions, the initial recovery from hypoglycemia occurred sooner in the presence than in the absence of ethanol. These data indicate that ethanol facilitates the recovery from insulininduced hypoglycemia in the face of reduced counterregulatory hormones responses. Thus, other mechanisms, such as ethanolinduced insulin resistance, may be important in facilitating the recovery from insulin-induced hypoglycemia during ethanol administration.

^* This work was supported by Finnish Academy of Science and the Alko Research Foundation.

Received December 21, 1987.

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