Light to moderate alcohol consumption in normal-weight women lowers their risk of becoming overweight, according to a news study based on a long term survey. Photo Credit: AFPMarch 08, 2010, (Sawf News) - Light to moderate alcohol consumption in normal-weight women lowers their risk of becoming overweight, according to a news study based on a long term survey.
The results appear paradoxical because alcohol consumption results in increased calorie intake with each gram of alcohol containing 7 calories.
However, research has not consistently provided evidence that consuming alcohol is a risk factor for obesity.
Unlike other foods alcohol cannot be converted into fat and stored by the body. It has to be burned. The new survey seems to indicate that alcohol consumption leads to reduced food intake in women.
Lu Wang, M.D., Ph.D., of Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, and colleagues studied 19,220 U.S. women age 39 or older who had a body mass index (BMI) in the range classified as normal (18.5 to 25).
Over an average of 13 years of follow-up, women on average gained weight progressively. Women who did not drink alcohol at all gained the most weight, with weight gain decreasing as alcohol intake increased.
Compared with women who did not drink at all, those who consumed some but less than 40 grams per day of alcohol were less likely to become overweight or obese. Women who drank 15 to less than 30 grams per day had the lowest risk, which was almost 30 percent lower than that of non-drinkers.
"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 write.
The authors caution 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.
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