Alcohol consumption and risk of type 2 diabetes in European men and women: influence of beverage type and body size The EPIC-InterAct study

Beulens JWJ, van der Schouw YT, Bergmann MM, Rohrmann S, B Schulze M, Buijsse B, Grobbee DE, Arriola L, Cauchi S, Tormo M-J, Allen NE, van der A DL, Balkau B, Boeing H, Clavel-Chapelon F, de Lauzon-Guillan B, Franks P, Froguel P, Gonzales C, Halkjaer J, Huerta JM, Kaaks R, Key TJ, Khaw KT, Krogh V, Molina-Montes E, Nilsson P, Overvad K, Palli D, Panico S, Ramon Quiros J, Ronaldsson O, Romieu I, Romaguera D, Sacerdote C, Sanchez M-J, Spijkerman AMW, Teucher B, Tjonneland A, Tumino R, Sharp S, Forouhi NG, Langenberg C, Feskens EJM, Riboli E, Wareham NJ (University Medical Center Utrecht, The Netherlands; German Institute of Human Nutrition, Potsdam-Rehbrucke, Germany; German Cancer Research Centre, Heidelberg, Germany; Basque Government, San Sebastian, CIBERESP, Spain; Institut de Biologie de Lille, Lille, France; Murcia Regional Health Council, Murcia, Spain; CIBER Epidemiologia y Salud Publica (CIBERESP), Spain; University of Oxford, Oxford, UK; National Institute of Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven, The Netherlands; Inserm, CESP Centre for Research in Epidemiology and Population Health, Villejuif Cedex, France; Lund University, Malmo, Sweden; Imperial College, London, UK; Department of Epidemiology, Barcelona, Spain; Danish Cancer Society, Copenhagen, Denmark; University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK; Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale Tumori Milan, Milan, Italy; Andalusian School of Public Health, Granada, Spain; School of Public Health, Aarhus, Denmark; Cancer Research and Prevention Institute (ISPO), Florence, Italy; Universita Federico II, Napoli, Italy; Consejeria de Salud y Servicios Sanitarios, Oviedo-Asturias, Spain; Umea University, Umea, Sweden; International Agency for Research of Cancer, Lyon, France; Center for Cancer Prevention (CPO-Piemonte), Torino, Italy; Civile - M.P. Arezzo Hospital, Ragusa, Italy; Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge, UK; and Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands). Alcohol consumption and risk of type 2 diabetes in European men and women: influence of beverage type and body size. The EPICInterAct study. J Intern Med 2012; 272: 358370. Objective: To investigate the association between alcohol consumption and type 2 diabetes, and determine whether this is modified by sex, body mass index (BMI) and beverage type. Design: Multicentre prospective casecohort study. Setting: Eight countries from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition cohort. Subjects: A representative baseline sample of 16 154 participants and 12 403 incident cases of type 2 diabetes. Interventions: Alcohol consumption assessed using validated dietary questionnaires. Main outcome measures: Occurrence of type 2 diabetes based on multiple sources (mainly self-reports), verified against medical information. Results: Amongst men, moderate alcohol consumption was nonsignificantly associated with a lower incidence of diabetes with a hazard ratio (HR) of 0.90 (95% CI: 0.781.05) for 6.112.0 versus 0.16.0 g day-1, adjusted for dietary and diabetes risk factors. However, the lowest risk was observed at higher intakes of 24.196.0 g day-1 with an HR of 0.86 (95% CI: 0.750.98). Amongst women, moderate alcohol consumption was associated with a lower incidence of diabetes with a hazard ratio of 0.82 (95% CI: 0.720.92) for 6.112.0 g day-1 (P interaction gender <0.01). The inverse association between alcohol consumption and diabetes was more pronounced amongst overweight (BMI = 25 kg m-2) than normal-weight men and women (P interaction < 0.05). Adjusting for waist and hip circumference did not alter the results for men, but attenuated the association for women (HR=0.90, 95% CI: 0.791.03 for 6.112.0 g day-1). Wine consumption for men and fortified wine consumption for women were most strongly associated with a reduced risk of diabetes. Conclusions: The results of this study show that moderate alcohol consumption is associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes amongst women only. However, this risk reduction is in part explained by fat distribution. The relation between alcohol consumption and type 2 diabetes was stronger for overweight than normal-weight women and men.