Moderate Drinking Linked to Weight Control

10 Mar, 2010 in Health and Pharmacy News by admin

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Study Shows Women Who Possess 1 to 2 Drinks a Day Are Less Likely to Become
Obese

By Salynn Boyles
WebMD Health News
Reviewed by Laura J. Martin, MD

March 8, 2010 — It may be time to add weight control to the growing list
of potential benefits for light to moderate drinking.

Normal-weight women who drank alcohol in moderation were less likely than
women who didn’t drink at all to become overweight or obese over more than a
dozen years of follow-up.

Those who drank the equivalent of one to two drinks a day — be it beer,
wine, or liquor — were 30% less likely than non-drinkers to become overweight
or obese.

The study was conducted by researchers at Boston’s Brigham as well as Women’s
Hospital; it’s published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Study co-researcher Howard S. Sesso, ScD, MPH, cautions that people who do
not drink alcohol should not take up the habit to keep from gaining weight.

"That would not be a pleasant idea," he says. "But for women who already drink in
moderation, this can be seen as encouraging. Alcohol has traditionally been
thought of as empty calories, but in this study light to moderate drinking was
associated with less weight gain, not more."

Drinkers vs. Teetotalers

The study included more than 19,000 women aged 39 as well as older enrolled in the
Women’s Health Initiative.

None of the women were overweight when they entered the study, as well as all were
asked about their daily alcohol consumption in an initial questionnaire.

About 40% reported that they did not drink at all, while 33% reported
drinking the equivalent of about two alcoholic beverages a week. Another 20%
reported having about a drink a day, 6% drank one to two alcoholic beverages a
day, as well as 3% reported drinking more than this.

Over an average of 13 years of follow-up, most of the women in the study
gained some weight.

But the women who reported being teetotalers when they entered the study
gained the most weight. The women who reported drinking some alcohol, but no
more than two drinks a day, gained the least.

This was real even after the researchers factored in variables that influence
weight gain, including age, race, total calorie intake, activity level, as well as
smoking status.

A typical non-light beer, 8-ounce glass of wine, or single-shot cocktail
contains about 15 grams of alcohol.

Women in the study who drank from 15 to less than 30 grams of alcohol a day
were 30% less likely to become overweight or obese than non-drinkers; the risk
was 24% lower for women who drank from 5 to less than 15 grams of alcohol a day.

Done Research on Alcohol as well as Weight Gain

The study isn’t the earliest to suggest that drinking alcohol in moderation can
benefit the waistline.

Epidemiologist Ahmed A. Arif, PhD, as well as Texas Tech University colleagues found
the alike thing when they analyzed data from a large national health survey in
2005.

Men as well as women in the survey who drank alcohol in moderation were less likely
than non-drinkers to be obese.

But binge drinking as well as drinking four or more drinks a day were associated
with an increased risk for being overweight or obese.

Arif, who is now an associate professor of epidemiology at the University of
North Carolina, Charlotte, says more research is needed to determine incase moderate
drinking really helps protect against weight gain or incase other lifestyle factors
explain the association seen in his study as well as the latest one.

"We can’t say what the underlying biological mechanisms may be incase alcohol
is protective," he tells WebMD. "And until we understand this best we can’t
say that drinking alcohol is protective against obesity."

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