Association between plasma glucose and glycoproteins in alcoholic smokers compared to alcoholics and teetotalers

Background and aimDiabetes mellitus is a metabolic disorder. However, the association between alcohol intake, cigarette smoking and risk of diabetes remains unclear. Present study was aimed to evaluate the association between blood glucose and glycoproteins in alcoholics and alcoholic smokers.MethodsHuman male volunteers were categorized into three groups viz., teetotalers who were non-alcoholics and non-smokers, alcoholics who consumed 70–120 g alcoholic beverage/day, and alcoholic smokers who use more than 12 cigarettes and 70–120 g alcoholic beverage/day.ResultsThe results of the present study showed elevated levels of glucose, lipid peroxidation (LPO), protein carbonyls and altered glycoproteins in plasma, erythrocyte and platelet in alcoholics and alcoholic smokers when compared to teetotalers. Alcoholics and alcoholic smokers plasma glucose was positively correlated with plasma sialic acid (r = 0.371; r = 0.528), hexose (r = 0.213; r = 0.265) and hexosamine (r = 0.314; r = 0.416), negatively correlated with plasma fucose (r = −0.292; r = −0.348) and α-acid glycoprotein (r = −0.194; r = −0.361) respectively. Further, alcoholics and alcoholic smokers plasma glucose was negatively correlated with erythrocyte sialic acid (r = −0.392; r = −0.418), hexose (r = −0.182; r = −0.268), hexosamine (r = −0.381; r = −0.264) and fucose (r = −0.216; r = −0.294) as well platelet sialic acid (r = −0.17; r = −0.218), and fucose (r = −0.247; r = −0.336) respectively.ConclusionAlterations in glycoproteins, glucose and increased oxidative stress in alcoholics and alcoholic smokers were observed compared to teetotalers.