The goals and objectives of these studies, conducted over the past 30 y, were to determine:
a) how chronic alcoholism leads to folate deficiency and b) how folate deficiency contributes
to the pathogenesis of alcoholic liver disease (ALD). The intestinal absorption of folic acid
was decreased in binge drinking alcoholics and, prospectively, in volunteers fed alcohol
with low folate diets. Monkeys fed alcohol for 2 y developed decreased hepatic folate stores,
folic acid malabsorption and decreased hepatic uptake but increased urinary excretion of …