Chemical compositions of traditional alcoholic beverages and consumers characteristics, Ethiopia

Annual Industrial Biotechnology and Bioprocessing Congress

September 17-18, 2018 | San Diego, USA

Dersehilign Teshome, Matthias Rainer, Jean-Christophe Noel, Gerhard Schubler, Dietmar Fuchs, Harald R Bliem and Bonn K Gunther

Medical University of Innsbruck, Austria

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Bioprocess Biotech

Abstract :

Commercially available home brewed alcoholic beverages of Areki and Tej from Addis Ababa and other regional cities of Ethiopia were analysed for alcohol concentration, methanol level and other additives. Surveys were also carried out on the rate of alcoholism and the socio-demographic characteristics of the consumers. The chemical properties of the sampled beverages showed that home distilled Areki and fermented Tej drinks can pose health threats due to their high alcoholic strength and undesirable additives. Methanol concentration was found significantly below the highest limit to causing harm to human health. Close to a third of the observed Tej and Areki users have exhibited symptoms of alcoholism. Factors related to gender and reasons for drinking were significantly associated with alcohol abuse. The introduction of community-based intervention to reduce the rate of alcoholism in Addis Ababa is strongly suggested. Commercial vending houses should be subjected to acceptable regulations in their mode of production and delivery mechanisms. Applicable strategies for effective management and supervision of traditional alcohol consumption and to reduce alcoholism and risks of health menace are recommended. Further studies on other health influencing substrates deserve supporting.

Biography :

Dersehilign A Teshome is a PhD scholar at the Medical University of Innsbruck. For his dissertation, he investigated Ethiopian traditional alcoholic beverages chemical compositions and consumers’ characteristics. He has a multidisciplinary academic background and considerable research experience in areas of life science.

E-mail: teshomedersehilign@yahoo.com