Women who drink moderately 'gain less weight than non-drinkers'
Women who drink moderately gain less weight that non-drinkers, new study claims
Monday, 08, Mar 2010 09:49
By Sarah Garrod.
A study has found that women who drink a moderate amount of alcohol appear to gain less weight than non-drinkers.
The research published today in the Archives of Internal Medicine found normal-weight women who drink a light to moderate amount of alcohol appear to gain less weight and have a lower risk of becoming overweight and obese than non-drinkers.
Despite the fact alcohol contains about seven calories per gram and alcohol drinking may possibly lead to weight gain through an imbalance of energy consumed and energy burned, the research today has not established a link between alcohol consumption and gaining weight.
Lu Wang, of Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, and colleagues studied 19,220 women in the US aged 39 or older who had a body mass index (BMI) in the range classified as normal (18.5 to 25).
On an initial questionnaire, participants reported how many alcoholic beverages they typically drank per day. Over an average of 13 years of follow-up, women on average gained weight progressively, the scientists found, and women who did not drink alcohol at all gained the most weight, with weight gain decreasing as alcohol intake increased.
"An inverse association between alcohol intake and risk of becoming overweight or obese was noted for all four types of alcoholic beverages [red wine, white wine, beer and liquor], with the strongest association found for red wine and a weak yet significant association for white wine after multivariate adjustment," the authors said.
However, they cautioned that given potential medical and psychosocial problems related to drinking alcohol, its beneficial and adverse effects for each individual must be considered before making any recommendation about its use.