Clinical Chemistry, Vol 34, 1462-1464, Copyright © 1988 by American
Association for Clinical Chemistry
Effect of ethanol on the ratio between testosterone and epitestosterone
in urine
O Falk, E Palonek and I Bjorkhem
Department of Clinical Chemistry, Huddinge Hospital, Sweden.
The testosterone/epitestosterone weight ratio in urine is used to
detect cases of doping when an athlete has treated himself with
exogenous testosterone. When this ratio exceeds 6, it is considered
evidence of testosterone doping. We show here that intake of ethanol
can affect this ratio. Ingestion of 110-160 g of ethanol, about 2 g per
kilogram body weight, increased the ratio between testosterone and
epitestosterone in urine from 1.14 +/- 0.07 to 1.52 +/- 0.09 in four
healthy male volunteers. The increase ranged from 30% to 90% in the
different subjects studied (mean 41%). In cases where doping with
testosterone is suspected, the possibility should be considered that at
least part of an observed increased testosterone/epitestosterone ratio
in urine is ascribable to previous ingestion of ethanol.