Lower risk for alcohol-induced cirrhosis in wine drinkers

Abstract

Although there is a well-known relationship between total alcohol intake and future risk for cirrhosis, other factors such as the type of alcohol consumed are sparsely studied. The aim of this study was to assess the effects of wine compared with other types of alcoholic beverages on risk for alcohol-induced cirrhosis. In 3 prospective studies, 30,630 participants from the Copenhagen area were followed-up for a total observation time of 417,325 person-years. Information on weekly intake of beer, wine, and spirits, and sex, age, body mass index, smoking habits, and education was obtained from questionnaires. The primary outcome measures were first admission or death, with alcohol-induced cirrhosis obtained from death certificates and from the National Hospital Discharge Register. Data were analyzed by means of multiplicative Poisson regression models. We confirmed the increasing risk for cirrhosis with increasing alcohol intake. Individuals who drank more than 5 drinks per day had a relative risk of 14 to 20 for developing cirrhosis compared with non-or light drinkers. However, compared with individuals who drank no wine (relative risk set at 1.0), individuals drinking 16% to 30% wine of their total intake had a relative risk of 0.4 (95% confidence limits, 0.3-0.6) and those drinking 51% or more of wine had a relative risk of 0.3 (95% confidence limits, 0.2-0.5) for developing cirrhosis. In conclusion, the results suggest that a high intake of all 3 types of alcohol conveys an increased risk for cirrhosis, but wine drinkers are at a lower risk than beer and spirits drinkers. (HEPATOLOGY 2002;35:868-875.)

Southern Europe as an example of interaction between various environmental factors: a systematic review of the epidemiologic evidence

“…Cohort studies performed in the USA and Northern Europe all showed an increased risk of developing cirrhosis or HCC due to alcohol drinking, although some of them found a doseeffect relationship (Klatsky and Armstrong, 1992;Becker et al, 2002) whereas others found a threshold effect of 50-75 g/day, after which the risk does not increase further (Sorensen et al, 1998;Kamper-Jorgensen et al, 2004). Various factors may have caused these contrasting results, mainly confounding by other factors, inaccuracy in estimating the level of intake during follow-up, and the low power of the studies.…”

Alcohol and Obesity: A Dangerous Association for Fatty Liver Disease

“…On the other side, unhealthy foods were considered for instance as soft drinks and saturated fatty acids, that is, dietary components well known to accelerate progression of liver disease [63,70] . Some studies have also suggested that a high percentage of red wine in the amount of alcohol consumed lowers the relative risk to develop (alcoholic) liver cirrhosis [71] . One explanation for this phenomenon may be resveratrol, a polyphenol in grapes, which is also found in red wines [72] .…”

Ethnic Variations in Chronic Liver Diseases

“…Alcoholic liver disease and its sequelae, ranging from alcoholic hepatitis to Laennec cirrhosis, are well described in the literature. The quantity and type of alcohol consumption that leads to hepatocellular injury are unknown, but studies have identified an association with spirits (distilled alcohol) rather than wine and beer [55][56][57]. Research has shown that Mexican American and black individuals are more prone to alcohol-induced hepatotoxicity than white individuals [58].…”