Effect of ethanol ingestion on duodenal calcium transport.

Effects of chronic ethanol ingestion on duodenal calcium transport were investigated in rats ingesting 20 per cent ethanol. Calcium transport was inhibited by ethanol ingestion and the defect could not be reversed by vitamin D or 25-hydroxycholecalciferol administrationmethanol ingestion by vitamin D-deficient rats did not further suppress transport activity nor interfere with an increase in transport induced by vitamim D. Levels of intestinal calcium-binding activity were not suppressed. Brush-border alkaline phosphatase activity was suppressed by chronic ethanol ingestion as compared to ad libitum-fed control animals and administration of vitamin D to animals ingesting ethanol restored alkaline phosphatase activitymthe results suggest that ethanol interferes with calcium transport by a mechanism at least in part independent of the vitamin D pathway and that changes in alkaline phosphatase and calcium transport, although both affected by vitamin D, may represent independent metabolic consequences.