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From: turlo
Date: 1/20/2003
Time: 2:30:16 PM
Remote Name: 158.125.1.23
Good question Mr Ard. Basically alcohol has a negitive metabloic effect. Each gram of alcohol contains 7 calories, compared to 4 calories from carbs and protein and 9 calories from fat. So alcohol is not too different from fat. The second major problem with alcohol is that promotes the burning of carbs before fat is burnt off. This is where the beer belly effect comes from, because fat is the last energy fuel to be burnt. This also has an effect on metabolism during endurance performance as fat is an essential fuel during moderate intensity endurance performance, due to the high yeild of ATP from each gram of fat.
As far as i know there have been very few sports science studies on the effects of alcohol, due to ethical reasons. There is a theory that alcohol may inhibit the muscular repair systems, ie it increase the recovery period required for a damaged muscle. But this is only a theory and will remain so until proven to be a fact through scientific evidence.
cheers and beers
Turlo