Alcohol Drinking Patterns Differentially Affect Central Adiposity as Measured by Abdominal Height in Women and Men

Abstract

Alcohol drinking in light-to-moderate amounts has been associated with reduced coronary heart disease (CHD) risk. However, there is evidence that the way people consume alcohol (drinking pattern) may affect risk. Central adiposity, a known CHD risk factor may be one mechanism in the pathway between alcohol consumption and CHD risk. Our study examined whether various drinking patterns differentially affect fat distribution, particularly abdominal fat in women and men. In a randomly selected population-based cohort (n ϭ 2343), 35-79 y old, we assessed drinking pattern as reported for the past 30 d, including beverage type and amount, frequency of consumption, percentage of time drinking while eating and number of drinks consumed/drinking day. Central adiposity was determined using an abdominal caliper to measure supine height of the abdomen. Current drinkers tended to have smaller abdominal heights than nondrinkers (women, P Ͻ 0.0001; men, P ϭ 0.0559). For drinking pattern, frequency was inversely associated, but drinking intensity (drinks/drinking day) was positively associated with central adiposity in women (P trend for frequency, 0.0007; intensity, 0.0010) and men (P trend for frequency, 0.0005; intensity, 0.0004), even when age, education, physical activity, smoking status and amount of alcohol (g) were included in the models. When frequency and intensity were considered together, daily drinkers of Ͻ1 drink/drinking day had the smallest mean abdominal height measures with the largest measures in less than weekly drinkers who consumed 4 or more drinks/drinking day. These results support the hypothesis that drinking pattern affects the distribution of body fat, an important CHD risk factor.

The relation between drinking pattern and body mass index and waist and hip circumference

“…17 This finding as well as our finding need to be confirmed in a prospective setting in order to clarify the causality of the association. Alcohol is degraded in the liver by alcoholdehydrogenase, and to some extent also by the microsomal ethanoloxidizing system.…”

“…Little attention has been paid to the association between drinking pattern and obesity, but two smaller studies have suggested that, for the same total intake of alcohol, daily drinkers are leaner than nondaily drinkers. 8,17 There has been some debate as to which is the best epidemiological measure of obesity. The World Health Organization has proposed the body mass index (BMI, kg/m 2 ) and waist circumference, 18 but these measures may be too crude to use on their own.…”

Alcohol: Effects on Nutritional Status, Lipid Profile and Blood Pressure

“…Population studies demonstrate that the increase of body and abdominal fat is related to a moderate [49,51] and frequent [52] alcohol consumption. There is also evidence that the alcohol can result in weight gain in different patterns to drink.…”

Relationship of Alcohol Drinking Pattern to Risk of Hypertension

“…The details of the overall study design, participant enrollment, and methodology have been described previously. 5 The study protocol was approved by the University at Buffalo institutional review board.…”

“…It has been suggested that the way in which alcohol is consumed may have important implications for health and, in particular, for cardiovascular disease and cardiovascular risk factors. [3][4][5][6] Few studies have specifically evaluated the possible effect of pattern of alcohol consumption on blood pressure elevation; 7-9 the majority of these studies have given attention to the role of drinking frequency, however, providing conflicting results. Only a study on a large sample of Italian men and women has examined the association between drinking pattern in relation to food consumption and hypertension risk, reporting a higher prevalence of hypertension in individuals consuming wine outside meals compared with drinkers of wine with meals.…”