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Can by-products in country-made alcohols induce acute pancreatitis?
Savio G Barreto1, Daniel Jardine, Phoebe Phillips
1Department of General and Digestive Surgery, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Flinders Medical Centre and Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. barr0264@flinders.edu.au
Objectives:
We previously reported a high incidence of alcohol-related acute pancreatitis (AP) in Goa, India, where country-made alcoholic products are consumed in addition to the commercially available alcoholic products. We aimed to analyze the composition of these country-made alcoholic products consumed by a population with a high incidence of alcohol-related AP.
Methods:
Three locally distilled alcoholic products (ethanol content, >20%) regularly consumed by patients developing AP, as determined by responses in a patient questionnaire, were selected. Three commercially available products with comparable ethanol content (rum, whiskey, and brandy) were used for comparison. Representative samples were analyzed using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. Compound assignments used mass spectral searches of the NIST library (2008).
Results:
Commercially available rum, whiskey, and brandy used for comparison contained the 2 major constituents, ethanol and water. In addition, the country-made alcoholic products contained a higher level of by-products including long-chain alcohols (eg, butanol, propanol), aldehydes (eg, acetaldehyde), acids (eg, acetic acid), and even traces of methanol.
Conclusions:
Country-made alcoholic products contain many compounds in addition to ethanol. Given the high incidence of alcohol-related AP in the population where these products are consumed, further evaluation of their constituents in relation to the induction of pancreatic damage is warranted.
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