Mild irritants have been shown to protect the rat gastric mucosa against noxious agents. This study was designed to test the protective potential of low-dose ethanol against acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) — induced gastric injury. Ten healthy volunteers who were nondrinkers and had normal baseline upper gastrointestinal endoscopy participated in a randomized double-blind crossover study. Thirty minutes after either vodka (37.5 ml) in tomato juice or tomato juice alone, each subject took 975 mg ASA and then underwent endoscopy 1 hr later. The degree of mucosal injury was scored, and blood was taken for ethanol and salicylate levels. There was a washout interval of seven days between the two treatments. Endoscopic scores were analyzed using the sign test. After a single dose of ASA, mucosal injury was confined to the fundus and antrum, while the duodenum was minimally affected. A significant reduction in antral damage was seen with ethanol pretreatment (P<0.05). the="" same="" trend="" was="" evident="" in="" the="" fundus="" but="" did="" not="" achieve="" statistical="" significance.="" serum="" salicylate="" levels="" averaged="" 13.2±="" 0.8="" mg/100="" ml="" and="" were="" not="" different="" between="" the="" two="" treatments.="" ethanol="" concentration="" ranged="" from="" 1.1="" to="" 6.2="" mmol/liter="" following="" the="" vodka="" drink="" and="" was="" 0="" after="" the="">