Alcohol as a Risk Factor for Type 2 Diabetes
A systematic review and meta-analysis
- Dolly O. Baliunas, MSC1,2,
- Benjamin J. Taylor, MSC1,2,
- Hyacinth Irving, MA1,
- Michael Roerecke, MSC1,2,
- Jayadeep Patra, PHD1,
- Satya Mohapatra, PHD1 and
- Jürgen Rehm, PHD1,2,3
- 1Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada;
- 2Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada;
- 3Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany.
- Corresponding author: Dolly Baliunas, dolly.baliunas{at}utoronto.ca.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To clarify the dose-response relationship between alcohol consumption and type 2 diabetes.
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS A systematic computer-assisted and hand search was conducted to identify relevant articles with longitudinal design and quantitative measurement of alcohol consumption. Adjustment was made for the sick-quitter effect. We used fractional polynomials in a meta-regression to determine the dose-response relationships by sex and end point using lifetime abstainers as the reference group.
RESULTS The search revealed 20 cohort studies that met our inclusion criteria. A U-shaped relationship was found for both sexes. Compared with lifetime abstainers, the relative risk (RR) for type 2 diabetes among men was most protective when consuming 22 g/day alcohol (RR 0.87 [95% CI 0.76–1.00]) and became deleterious at just over 60 g/day alcohol (1.01 [0.71–1.44]). Among women, consumption of 24 g/day alcohol was most protective (0.60 [0.52–0.69]) and became deleterious at about 50 g/day alcohol (1.02 [0.83–1.26]).
CONCLUSIONS Our analysis confirms previous research findings that moderate alcohol consumption is protective for type 2 diabetes in men and women.
Footnotes
-
The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked “advertisement” in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.
-
- Received February 6, 2009.
- Accepted July 22, 2009.
- © 2009 by the American Diabetes Association.
