Cross-sectional association between total level and type of alcohol consumption and glycosylated haemoglobin level: the EPIC-Norfolk Study

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the association between total level and type of alcohol consumed and glycaemia. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: The EPIC-Norfolk Study, a population-based cohort study of diet and chronic disease. Subjects and methods: Non-diabetic men (n ¼ 2842) and women (n ¼ 3572), aged 40 -78 y. Alcohol intake was assessed by self-reported questionnaire, and glycaemia measured by glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA 1c ). Results: Ten percent of men and 18% of women reported drinking no alcohol. Among drinkers, median alcohol intake was 8 units=week for men and 3 units=week for women. In analyses stratified by sex and adjusted for age, total energy intake, education, fruit and vegetable intake, smoking, family history of diabetes, physical activity, body mass index and waist:hip ratio, alcohol intake was inversely associated with HbA 1c in men and women, although the association was stronger in women. A 1 unit=week increase in alcohol intake was associated with 0.0049% (s.e. ¼ 0.00223; P-value ¼ 0.028) and 0.017% (s.e. ¼ 0.00343; P-value < 0.001) reduction in HbA 1c in men and women respectively. In similar multivariate analyses, wine intake was inversely associated with HbA 1c in men, and wine, spirits and beer intake were inversely associated with HbA 1c in women. When also adjusted for total alcohol intake, only the association between wine intake and HbA 1c in men remained significant. Conclusion: Alcohol intake was associated with lower HbA 1c level, an association not explained by confounding. The distinction between type of alcohol consumed was particularly important in men. Sponsorship: NJW is an MRC Clinician Scientist Fellow.

Association between Alcohol Drinking and Metabolic Syndrome in Japanese Male Workers with Diabetes Mellitus

“…This finding agrees with the findings of an inverse relationship between alcohol intake and hemoglobin A1C in previous studies using general populations 30,31) . However, the amount of alcohol intake is recommended to be less than 20-30 g ethanol per day from the viewpoint of prevention of hypertension 21) , and this amount corresponds to the alcohol intake of light drinkers in the present study.…”

The Relationship Between Alcohol Consumption and Glycemic Control Among Patients with Diabetes: The Kaiser Permanente Northern California Diabetes Registry

“…Among people without diabetes, moderate alcohol consumption may enhance insulin sensitivity [43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51] and has been shown to decrease A1C. [52][53][54][55][56] It is plausible that regular, moderate alcohol consumption by people with diabetes similarly enhances insulin sensitivity and improves glycemic control. If this is the case, it might follow that the effect would be greater among type 2 diabetes patients, as they typically have much greater insulin resistance than those with type 1 diabetes; we did not, however, find different patterns of effect by diabetes type in our cohort.…”

Obesity-Independent Inverse Association between Regular Alcohol Consumption and Hemoglobin A_1C

“…Although there is still debate, recent systemic reviews of previous prospective studies have shown that moderate alcohol consumption is associated with a decreased incidence of diabetes [10,11]. Coinciding with this, previous cross-sectional studies have shown that glycated hemoglobin, a marker reflecting long-term blood glucose level, was lower in moderate drinkers than in nondrinkers [12,13]. In most of those studies, Western populations were used as subjects.…”