Alcohol Hypoglycemia. I. Carbohydrate Metabolism of Patients with Clinical Alcohol Hypoglycemia and the Experimental Reproduction of the Syndrome with Pure Ethanol.

In 1941, Brown and Harvey described hypoglycemia after alcoholic debauch in six chronic alcoholics from the Baltimore area (1). In 1942, Tucker and Porter noted four cases among chronic alcoholics from Richmond, Virginia (2). Since then, fewer than 100 instances of alcoholism associated with hypoglycemia have been reported, and most of these accounts have appeared in the foreign literature (3-12). Certain summary statements about "alcohol hypoglycemia" are justified. First, although the condition was originally ascribed to "smoke," or more specifically, denatured alcohol solvents ("Solox") 1 (1, 2), later reports have excluded methanol, ethyl acetate, gasoline, or methyl isobutyl ketone (3, 4, 7, 9-12). Second, well-documented pediatric cases indicate that the addiction of the chronic alcoholic is not mandatory (4, 7, 9-