Alcohol Cuts Diabetes Risk in Older Women

Moderate alcohol consumption appears to have a protective effect against type 2 diabetes in older women.

Dr. Michiel L. Bots of University Medical Center Utrecht and colleagues note that although an association between alcohol use and reduced diabetes risk has been observed, much exploration of this topic has centered on men and few studies have involved older women.

Because diabetes increases with age and most type 2 diabetic patients are women, the investigators investigated the relationship between alcohol and diabetes onset in older women. The team examined data from a cohort of more than 16,300 women aged 49 to 70 years who were diabetes-free at enrollment and were followed for a mean of 6.2 years.

During this period, 760 women were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Compared with abstainers, the hazard ratio for women consuming 5 to 30 g of alcohol per week was 0.66. For a weekly alcohol intake of 30 to 70 g the corresponding ratio was 0.91. For 70 to 140 g, it was 0.64 and for more than 210 g, it was 0.69.

Ten grams of alcohol constitutes one standard drink.

There was no association with type of drink. Lifetime alcohol consumption was associated with type 2 diabetes in a U-shaped fashion – in that it was increased in abstainers and excessive drinkers in comparison with those with moderate consumption.

The team observes that they did not allow for binge drinking. However, they note that binge drinking does not occur frequently in moderately drinking older women and is unlikely to have influenced the results to a large extent.

The investigators conclude, "These data agree with previous observations and expand this evidence to older women and lifetime alcohol consumption."

Diabetes Care 2005;28:2933-2938.