Zinc deficiency aggravates vitamin A deficiency, since zinc is needed in the transformation of vitamin A into its active form. Contamination of beer with arsenic or cobalt has caused death from heart failure. The liver will swell with acute intoxication, often painfully, and will show fatty infiltration and enlargement if AB ingestion continues regularly. With excessive AB over many years, the ravaged liver becomes scarred, shrunken, and relatively non-functional. Pancreatitis is a consequence of alcoholism.
Alcohol stimulates pancreatic secretion.
Malnutrition with deficiencies of protein and vitamins contributes to chronic pancreatic dysfunction. Impairment of pancreatic enzyme production spoils digestion and contributes to malabsorption of nutrients. Decreased insulin production may cause or aggravate diabetes. AB's contribute to malnutrition by replacing foods needed for essential nutrients and by interfering with absorption, storage or metabolism of the essential nutrients. Ethanol may suppress appetite and consumption of food.