Alcohol Linked With Lower Prevalence of Metabolic Syndrome

There is an association between mild to moderate alcohol consumption and a lower prevalence of the metabolic syndrome.

In a cross-sectional analysis, Dr. Matthew S. Freiberg, from Boston Medical Center, and colleagues examined the association between alcohol consumption and the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome and its components. They analyzed data for 8125 subjects in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

The participants were evaluated for each component of the metabolic syndrome using the National Cholesterol Education criteria, fasting insulin, and alcohol consumption. Current alcohol consumption was defined as at least one alcoholic drink per month.

Overall, 57.9% of the subjects were current drinkers. The percentages were higher for men (66.0%) than for women (50.0%). Women had a slightly higher prevalence of the metabolic syndrome (22.7% versus 21.9% for men).

Overall, the researchers found that current drinkers had a lower adjusted prevalence of the metabolic syndrome than non-drinkers (odds ratio 0.57).

"After adjustment for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, income, tobacco use, physical activity, and diet, subjects who consumed 1-19 and more than 20 drinks of alcohol per month had odds ratio for the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome of 0.65 and 0.34, respectively," the researchers report.

Significant reductions in the odds ratio for the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome were observed for beer and wine only, not for liquor.

"The association of 20 or more alcoholic drinks per month with the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome was consistent across ethnicities but was most striking in white men and women (odds ratios 0.35 and 0.22, respectively; p < 0.05)," Dr. Freiberg’s group notes.

A significant inverse association was observed between alcohol consumption and three components of the metabolic syndrome: low serum HDL cholesterol, elevated serum triglycerides, and high waist circumference. An association was also found with hyperinsulinemia.
Diabetes Care 2004;27:2954-2959.

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