Light or moderate alcohol drinking may not lower risk for type 2 diabetes, obesity
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Key takeaways:
- In Mendelian randomization analysis, light alcohol drinking is not associated with a lower risk for obesity or diabetes.
- Having more than 14 alcoholic drinks per week is linked to a higher fat mass.
Despite some observational evidence, drinking light or moderate amounts of alcohol may not reduce one’s risk for type 2 diabetes or obesity, according to findings published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.
In observational data from the UK Biobank, adults who consumed fewer than 3.5 drinks per week had a reduced likelihood for developing obesity and type 2 diabetes compared with adults who did not drink alcohol. However, further analysis using Mendelian randomization revealed no association between consuming fewer than seven drinks per week and risk for type 2 diabetes and obesity.
“Some research has indicated that moderate drinkers may be less likely to develop obesity or diabetes compared to nondrinkers and heavy drinkers,” Tianyuan Lu, PhD, a Schmidt AI in Science postdoctoral fellow at the University of Toronto and a senior bioinformatics scientist at 5 Prime Sciences in Montreal, said in a press release. “However, our study shows that even light to moderate alcohol consumption (no more than one standard drink per day) does not protect against obesity and type 2 diabetes in the general population. We confirmed that heavy drinking could lead to increased measures of obesity as well as increased risk of type 2 diabetes.”
Observational evidence suggests protective effect for light, moderate drinking
Researchers collected data from 408,540 adults aged 40 to 69 years who participated in the UK Biobank from 2006 to 2010. Researchers collected anthropometric measurements at recruitment. Obesity was identified through BMI measurements and type 2 diabetes was defined as a self-reported diagnosis, having an HbA1c higher than 6.5%, or using a diabetes medication. One standard alcoholic drink was defined as 14 g of pure alcohol. Alcohol consumption was self-reported in a questionnaire. Participants were divided into five groups by alcohol consumption: nondrinkers, fewer than 3.5 drinks per week, between 3.5 and seven drinks per week, between seven and 14 drinks per week and more than 14 drinks per week.
Of the cohort, 23.2% of women and 25.4% of men had obesity, whereas 6.1% of women and 10.8% of men had type 2 diabetes. The mean weekly alcohol intake for drinkers was 9.1 drinks per week for women and 14.6 drinks per week for men.
Among adult drinkers who had fewer than 3.5 drinks per week, all weight and body composition measurements were negatively correlated with higher alcohol intake, whereas among heavier drinkers, all measurements were positively correlated with drinking more alcohol. Adults who had fewer than 3.5 drinks per week were less likely to develop obesity (adjusted OR = 0.91; 95% CI, 0.89-0.94) and type 2 diabetes (aOR = 0.88; 95% CI, 0.84-0.91) than nondrinkers, but no associations were observed for any other alcohol intake groups.
Genetic analysis reveals no link for light, moderate drinking
Researchers also conducted a Mendelian randomization built on two genetic variants that were associated with alcohol intake frequency. In the study, adults who were genetically predicted to drink more than seven drinks per week had higher weight than nondrinkers. Among those predicted to have more than 14 alcoholic drinks per week, each one-drink increase was associated with a 0.36 kg increase in fat mass, a 0.16 kg increase in fat-free mass, a 0.45 cm increase in waist circumference and a 0.29 cm increase in hip circumference. Among adults genetically predicted to have seven or fewer drinks per week, no associations were found between alcohol intake and any anthropometric measurements.
Among adults genetically predicted to have more than 14 alcoholic drinks per week, each one-drink increase was associated with an increased likelihood for obesity (OR = 1.08; 95% CI, 1.06-1.1) and type 2 diabetes (OR = 1.1; 95% CI, 1.06-1.13). The increased odds for obesity and type 2 diabetes were more robust for women compared with men. No associations were observed between those predicted to have seven or fewer drinks per week and type 2 diabetes or obesity.
“Even though the genetic instrument was sufficiently strong, we did not observe any evident protective effects of increasing alcohol intake on any health outcomes under investigation for light to moderate drinkers having seven or fewer drinks per week,” the researchers wrote. “Although most observational associations for light to moderate drinkers were statistically significant, all Mendelian randomization estimates in these two strata — more than zero and 3.5 or fewer drinks per week and more than 3.5 and seven or fewer drinks per week — overlapped with the null. This suggests that even if there exists a protective effect of light to moderate alcohol consumption, the magnitude of such an effect would be small.”
The researchers said improved characterization of the dose-dependent effects of alcohol consumption should be performed in future studies with a larger sample size. They added that more studies are also needed to examine associations between alcohol consumption and non-cardiometabolic diseases.
Reference:
- Light or moderate alcohol consumption does not guard against diabetes, obesity. www.endocrine.org/news-and-advocacy/news-room/2023/light-or-moderate-alcohol-consumption-does-not-guard-against-diabetes-obesity. Published June 27, 2023. Accessed June 28, 2023.
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