Thermal and glycemic responses during mild exercise in +5 to -15 degrees C environments following alcohol ingestion.

Male volunteers (3 groups of 6) were tested once after drinking alcohol (alc) and once after consuming a placebo. The subject drank 2.5 ml of 40% alc/kg in 30 min and, wearing a sweat suit, entered an environmental chamber (+5 degrees, -5 degrees, or -15 degrees C; one group at each temperature). Intermittent, bicycle exercise was performed for 3 h (40% VO2 max, 20 min work--10 min rest repeated 6 times). Peak blood alc (11.87 +/- 0.82 mM/occurred at 87.4 +/- 7.5 min; there were no differences between the three temperature groups. Based on pulmonary VO2 and RQ, neither environmental temperature nor alcohol affected metabolism, but blood glucose was significantly (p less than 0.05) lower with alcohol from 105 min until the end of the 3 h. Mean body temp was lower (p less than 0.05) in the -15 degrees C group and alcohol resulted in lower (p less than 0.05) body temperature in all three groups for the first 2 h. However, subjects did not perceive the increased heat loss or lower body temperatures. In contrast to cold water immersion studies, alcohol ingestion followed by mild exercise in a cold air environment results in enhanced heat loss and lower blood glucose levels.