Abstract
Background/Objectives:
The relation between lifetime use of alcohol and measures of abdominal and general adiposity is unknown.
Subjects/Methods:
Among 99 381 men and 158 796 women of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study, means of waist circumference (WC), waist-to-hip-ratio (WHR) and body mass index (BMI), and odds ratios (OR) for a larger WC than predicted for a given BMI (WClp=positive residuals of gender specific linear regression of BMI on WC) across categories of average lifetime use of alcohol (total, from wine and from beer) were calculated, all adjusted for socio-demographic, lifestyle and health factors.
Results:
WC, WHR and BMI in men using lifetime ⩽6 g/d alcohol were 95.1 cm, 0.942 and 27.3 kg/m2, and 96.2 cm, 0.961 and 28.3 kg/m2 when using >96 g/d. WC and WHR in women was 83.2 cm and 0.813 for ⩽6 g/d, and 84.6 cm and 0.830 for >60 g/d, whereas BMI deviated only slightly with the lowest BMI (26.7 kg/m2) observed for >6–24 g/d. Compared with ⩽6 g/d, OR for a WClp in both genders increased steadily across categories of alcohol use (up to 1.40 (95% confidence interval 1.32, 1.49) in men using >60 g/d and 1.63 (1.54, 1.73) in women using >24 g/d), though increase was higher for alcohol from beer than from wine (P for difference between beer and wine<0.001 (men) and=0.002 (women)).
Conclusion:
Lifetime alcohol use is positively related to abdominal and general adiposity in men, possibly following the male weight gain pattern; in women, it is positively related only to abdominal adiposity. In this context, beer may contribute additionally to abdominal adiposity.
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Acknowledgements
This publication arises from the project PANACEA, which has received funding from the European Union, in the framework of the Public Health Programme (project number: 2005328). The work was further financially supported by the European Commission: Public Health and Consumer Protection Directorate 1993–2004; Research Directorate-General 2005; Ligue contre le Cancer, Societé 3M, Mutuelle Générale de l’Education Nationale, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM; France); German Cancer Aid, German Cancer Research Center, Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Germany); Danish Cancer Society (Denmark); Health Research Fund (FIS) of the Spanish Ministry of Health, the participating regional governments and institutions (Spain); Cancer Research UK, Medical Research Council, Stroke Association, British Heart Foundation, Department of Health, Food Standards Agency, The Wellcome Trust (UK); Greek Ministry of Health and Social Solidarity, Hellenic Health Foundation and Stavros Niarchos Foundation (Greece); Italian Association for Research on Cancer, National Research Council (Italy); Dutch Ministry of Public Health, Welfare and Sports, Dutch Ministry of Health, Dutch Prevention Funds, LK Research Funds, Dutch ZON (Zorg Onderzoek Nederland), World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) (The Netherlands); Swedish Cancer Society, Swedish Scientific Council, Regional Government of Skane (Sweden); Norwegian Cancer Society (Norway). Special thank deserve Wolfgang Bernigau for his major support in conducting the statistical analysis.
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Bergmann, M., Schütze, M., Steffen, A. et al. The association of lifetime alcohol use with measures of abdominal and general adiposity in a large-scale European cohort. Eur J Clin Nutr 65, 1079–1087 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2011.70
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2011.70
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