In vivo inhibition by specific lipids of ethanol production from glucose by the yeast Torulopsis glabrata

Abstract

SUMMARYThe production of toxic levels of ethanol in the stomachs of neonatal ruminants resulting from fermentation of glucose by resident yeasts occurs only in the absence of fat from the diet. Daily levels of ethanol and numbers of viable yeast were measured on samples of stomach contents for 21-day periods. Milk fat was shown to control the ethanol production in lambs and calves (but not in vitro in culture), the quantitative nature of this control was demonstrated by experiments with cream using lambs. Nine dietary fats in commercial use homogenized in fat-free milk, a commercial catering ‘milk’, and an intravenous lipid feed were all tested in lamb-feeding experiments, compared with whole and separated milk, and an inert oily hydrocarbon, liquid paraffin.