Alcohol can have detrimental health outcomes because ethanol can act as a cellular toxin through generation of metabolites. However, ethanol also has a number of health benefits that may be evident at lower intakes. One aspect of alcohol that is interesting is its ability to improve the fluidity of cellular membranes. This effect can improve the uptake of other nutrients to the cells and can also improve other aspects of cell function and change metabolic conditions. Most people consider alcohol detrimental to exercise, but this is a methodological problem in the amount of ethanol that is used in studies. At very low intake alcohol may have some ergogenic effects. For example, in one study, consuming 1.09 grams of grain alcohol was shown to increase total testosterone, free testosterone and free androgen index compared to a placebo following resistance training. These results suggest that alcohol may favorably alter male hormone ratios in response to exercise, using the amount of alcohol equivalent to about 1 gram.
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