Alcohol Consumption and Mortality among Middle-aged and Elderly Japanese Men and Women

The association between alcohol consumption and mortality: the Swedish women’s lifestyle and health study

“…The Nurses' Health Study also found that for any given level of alcohol intake, the apparent adverse effect of alcohol on risk for mortality was consistently more pronounced among younger than older women (18), ranging from RR=2.46 (95% CI=0.50-12.4) for women aged 34 to 39 years to RR=1.02 (95% CI=0.80-1.30) for women over 60. Similar conclusions were reached by the Japanese Collaborative Cohort Study (11,28) and the National Health Epidemiology Follow-up Study (11,28).…”

“…In addition, we minimised the potential for confounding by controlling for numerous accepted risk factors for mortality. Since previous studies reported both greater (2,4,5,26,35,38,39) or lower mortality risk (11,20) among female former drinkers compared to female lifetime abstainers, we were concerned with potential bias through the inclusion of ill former heavy drinkers in the reference group, but found that the exclusion of former drinkers did not alter our results. Our study had limited power to explore associations with specific causes of mortality and mortality among women with alcohol intakes with over 20 grams per day.…”

“…For example, the category of 1.5-4.9 grams of alcohol per day corresponds to approximately two glasses of wine per week (1 glass = 1dl; alcohol by volume = 10%). To further facilitate comparison with previous studies, we also compared subjects with 0.1-19.9 grams of alcohol per day with subjects with no alcohol consumption (11,(19)(20)(21) as well as participants consuming any quantity of alcohol with non-drinkers (12,13,22). We fitted Cox proportional hazards regression models to estimate the relative risks of mortality associated with alcohol intake.…”

“…The cohort includes a large number of light to moderate drinkers, a level of alcohol intake that is considered controversial in terms of its potential health benefits. Furthermore, the cohort's baseline age range of 30 to 49 years is exceptional: previous studies have looked either at a much broader age range (9)(10)(11) or at older women (12,13).…”

Hepatoprotective Effects of a Concentrate and Components of Sake against Galactosamine (GalN)-Induced Liver Injury in Mice

“…The results of these studies confirmed that moderate alcohol consumption was associated with the lowest risk of all-cause and cancer mortality. [6][7][8][9] The U-shaped relationship between alcohol intake and ischemic stroke and the alcohol-dependent increase in hemorrhagic stroke were also observed in Japan. 10) Favorable associations between light-to-moderate alcohol intake and health issues have been suggested, but most of the studies were conducted without attention to the type of alcoholic beverages consumed.…”