Moderate drinkers who are homozygous for the slow-oxidizing ADH3 allele have higher HDL levels and a substantially decreased risk of myocardial infarction.

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BACKGROUND: Obesity may influence several physiologic processes involved in cataract formation such as oxidative stress, glycosylation and osmotic stress. OBJECTIVE: To examine the association between increased body mass index (BMI) and the incidence of cataract extraction. DESIGN AND SETTING: The Nurses' Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study, both prospective cohort studies of US women and men. SUBJECTS: A total of 87 682 women and 45 549 men aged 45 y and older who did not have diagnosed cataract or cancer at baseline (1980 for women, 1986 for men). MEASUREMENTS: Cataract extractions occurring between baseline and 1996, confirmed by medical records. RESULTS: During 16 y of follow-up in the women, and 10 y in the men, (1 097 997 person-y), 4430 incident cases were documented. Compared to participants with BMI less than 23 kg=m 2 , those with BMI greater than or equal to 30 kg=m 2 had 36% higher risk of any type of cataract (pooled multivariate relative risk (RR), 1.36; 95% CI, 1.23 -1.49) after adjusting for smoking, age and lutein=zeaxanthin intake. The association was strongest for posterior subcapsular (PSC) cataract (pooled multivariate RR, 1.99; 95% CI, 1.55 -2.55). With adjustment for diabetes, the RR of obesity associated with posterior subcapsular cataract was 1.68 (95% CI, 1.30 -2.17). Obesity was not significantly associated with nuclear cataract. CONCLUSION: Obesity increases the risk of developing cataract overall, and of PSC cataract in particular; the etiology of PSC cataract may be mediated at least in part by glucose intolerance and insulin resistance, even in the absence of clinical diabetes.