This study concerns the determination of hepatic enzyme activity in beer consumers. It was carried out in the city of Gemena, with the overall objective of determining hepatic enzyme activity in beer consumers, evaluating the liver function of beer consumers, and detecting possible hepatic dysfunctions.
The study involved a total of 60 confirmed beer-consuming subjects recruited mainly from students of ISTM Gemena in a purposive sampling because the characteristics of the respondents were well known and determined in advance to participate in the study. Laboratory analysis of ALT (GPT/ALAT), AST (GOT/ASAT) and GGT performed on whole blood collected in plain tubes and centrifuged to obtain serum revealed abnormally elevated enzymatic activity with estimated values approximating: 40.39±3.2 U/l, 55.44±9 U/l and 48.11±5.8 U/l respectively for GPT, GOT and GGT compared with 37.9±3.3 U/l, 35.36±3.2 and 40.96±3.3. It should be noted that there were more male consumers than female consumers (73.3% versus 16 female cases, i.e. 26.7%). The mean age of the respondents was between 20 and 30 years. The beer most consumed by the respondents was Castel (a beer imported from West Africa).