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An analysis of nearly 312,400 current drinkers suggests that consuming alcohol, particularly wine, with meals is associated with a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes, according to preliminary research presented at the Conference on Epidemiology, Prevention, Lifestyle and Cardiometabolic Health. 2022 from the American Heart Association.
“The effects of alcohol consumption have been described as a double-edged sword: harmful or helpful, depending on how it is consumed,” said the study’s author, Hao Mafrom
tulane university
in New Orleans (USA). “Previous studies have focused on how much people drink and have had mixed results. But very few studies have focused on other details related to drinking, such as the timing of alcohol intake.”
Alcohol use is linked to short-term and long-term health risks: high blood pressure, obesity, stroke, breast cancer, liver disease, depression, suicide, accidents, alcoholism…
These risks increase as increases the amount of alcohol an individual drinks. For some types of cancer and other health conditions, the risk rises even at very low levels of alcohol consumption: less than one drink a day.
In fact, c. And, among those who drink alcohol regularly, they recommend consulting with their doctors about the benefits and risks of consuming alcohol in moderation.
And they warn that some people should not drink anything, including women who are pregnant or trying to get pregnant, people under the age of 21, and people with certain health problems.
A key for those who already drink alcohol is moderation. Moderate drinking is defined as one glass of wine or other alcoholic drink per day for women and up to two glasses a day for men. That equates to up to 14 grams, or about 150 ml, of wine a day for women and up to 28 grams, or about 300 ml, of wine a day for men, according to Ma.
“Clinical trials have also found that moderate alcohol consumption may have some health benefits, including glucose metabolism. However, it is not clear if the benefits of glucose metabolism translate into a reduction in type 2 diabetes», he says.
“In our study, we sought to determine whether the association between alcohol intake and type 2 diabetes risk might differ according to the timing of alcohol intake relative to meals,” he adds.
In this study, researchers specifically examined the effect of moderate alcohol consumption on new-onset type 2 diabetes among all study participants over approximately 11 years (between 2006 and 2010). Data on nearly 312,400 adults from the UK Biobank who were recognized as regular alcohol drinkers.
Participants did not have diabetes, cardiovascular disease, or cancer at the time of study enrollment. People who reduced their alcohol consumption due to illness, medical advice or pregnancy were excluded from the study. The average age of the participants was about 56 years oldslightly more than half of the adults were women and 95% were white adults.
The analysis found that during an average of nearly 11 years of follow-up, about 8,600 of the adults in the study developed type 2 diabetes. In addition, alcohol consumption with meals was associated with a 14% lower risk of type 2 diabetes in compared to drinking alcohol without eating.
Finally, the potential benefit of moderate alcohol consumption on type 2 diabetes risk was apparent only among those who drank alcohol during meals, although the specific time of meals was not collected in this study.
The researchers note that the beneficial association between alcohol consumption with meals and type 2 diabetes was more common among participants who drank wine compared to other types of alcohol.
In addition, the consumption of wine, beer, and liquor had different associations with the risk of type 2 diabetes. While a increased amount of wine consumption was associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes, a greater amount of beer or liquor was associated with a greater type 2 diabetes risk.
“The message from this study is that drinking moderate amounts of wine with meals can prevent type 2 diabetes if you don’t have other health condition that may be negatively affected by moderate alcohol consumption and in consultation with your doctor,” adds Ma.
Despite the findings of this robust analysis of healthy drinkers, the relationship between alcohol use and new-onset type 2 diabetes remains controversial, according to Robert H. Eckel of the
American Heart Associationwho did not participate in the study.
“These data suggest that it is not the alcohol with meals but other ingredients in wine, perhaps antioxidants, that may be the factor in potentially reducing new-onset type 2 diabetes. Although it is necessary define the type of winered versus white, and validation of these findings and mechanisms of benefit is needed, the results suggest that if you are consuming alcohol with meals, wine may be a better choice,” says Eckel.