The effect of alcohol consumption on nutritional status during murine AIDS

As alcohol (ETOH) abusers and AIDS patients have nutritional disorders, the influence of chronic ETOH consumption (5% v/v for 10 weeks) on levels of immunomodulatory nutrients (vitamins A and E, Zn, and Cu) in the serum, liver, small intestine, spleen, and thymus was determined during murine AIDS. The hepatic levels of vitamins A and E and Zn in both normal and LP-BM5 retrovirus-infected female C56BL/6 mice fed ETOH were significantly reduced compared to controls, whereas the level of Cu in the liver was not affected. Intestinal levels of vitamin A and Cu were not affected by ETOH, whereas vitamin E and Zn were significantly reduced in both normal mice and those with AIDS fed ETOH. The splenic levels of vitamin A and Zn in the normal mice were significantly reduced by ETOH compared to controls, but vitamin E and Cu were not. All splenic levels of nutrients measured were reduced in ETOH-fed mice with AIDS. The levels of vitamins A and E, Zn, and Cu in the thymus in murine AIDS were also significantly affected by ETOH consumption. The serum levels of vitamins A and E in both normal mice and murine AIDS were significantly decreased by dietary ETOH. These data produced evidence that chronic ETOH can directly aggravate undernutrition initiated by retrovirus infection. Such ETOH-induced malnutrition in AIDS may be a cofactor, accelerating development of AIDS via immunosuppression secondary to nutritional deficiencies.