[acb-diabetics] moderate drinkers...

[Patricia LaFrance-Wolf]

This article originally posted 09 March, 2010 and appeared in  

Issue 512

 

Moderate Drinking Women Gain Less Weight than Non-Drinkers

 

Normal-weight women who drink a light to moderate amount of alcohol appear
to gain less weight and have a lower risk of becoming overweight and obese
than

non-drinkers, according to a new report. 

 

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More than half of American adults drink alcoholic beverages, according to
background information in the article. Alcohol contains about 7 calories per
gram

(with approximately 28 grams per ounce) and alcohol drinking may possibly
lead to weight gain through an imbalance of energy consumed and energy
burned.

However, research has not consistently provided evidence that consuming
alcohol is a risk factor for obesity. 

 

Lu Wang, M.D., Ph.D., of Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, and
colleagues studied 19,220 U.S. women age 39 or older who had a body mass
index (BMI)

in the range classified as normal (18.5 to 25). On an initial questionnaire,
participants reported how many alcoholic beverages they typically drank per

day. A total of 7,346 (38.2 percent) reported drinking no alcohol; 6,312
(32.8 percent) drank less than 5 grams; 3,865 (20.1 percent) drank 5 to less
than

15 grams; 1,129 (5.9 percent) drank 15 to less than 30 grams; and 568 (3
percent) drank 30 grams per day or more. 

 

Over an average of 13 years of follow-up, women on average gained weight
progressively. Women who did not drink alcohol at all gained the most
weight, with

weight gain decreasing as alcohol intake increased. A total of 7,942 (41.3
percent) women who initially had normal weight become overweight or obese
(BMI

of 25 or higher), including 732 (3.8 percent) who become obese (BMI of 30 or
higher). Compared with women who did not drink at all, those who consumed

some but less than 40 grams per day of alcohol were less likely to become
overweight or obese. Women who drank 15 to less than 30 grams per day had
the

lowest risk, which was almost 30 percent lower than that of non-drinkers.

 

"An inverse association between alcohol intake and risk of becoming
overweight or obese was noted for all four types of alcoholic beverages [red
wine, white

wine, beer and liquor], with the strongest association found for red wine
and a weak yet significant association for white wine after multivariate
adjustment,"

the authors write.

 

The authors caution that, given potential medical and psychosocial problems
related to drinking alcohol, its beneficial and adverse effects for each
individual

must be considered before making any recommendation about its use. "Further
investigations are warranted to elucidate the role of alcohol intake and
alcohol

metabolism in energy balance and to identify behavioral, physiological and
genetic factors that may modify the alcohol effects," they conclude.

 

Arch Intern Med. 2010;170[5]:453-461 

 

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