Abstract 044: Moderate Alcohol Drinking With Meals Is Related To Lower Incidence Of Type 2 Diabetes

Abstract

Introduction: Alcohol drinking has both adverse and beneficial effects on health. The benefits of moderate drinking on glucose metabolism have been documented in several well-designed clinical trials. However, it is still unclear whether such benefits on glucose metabolism will translate into a reduction in type 2 diabetes (T2D). Inconsistent results on the relationship between moderate drinking and T2D were observed in previous studies. Intriguingly, we noted that, the alcoholic beverages were usually served with meals in those clinical trials that have detected the beneficial effects of moderate alcohol intake on glucose metabolism. Hypothesis: We hypothesized that the association between alcohol intake and risk of T2D might differ by the timing of alcohol intake with respect to meals. Methods: A total of 312,388 healthy current drinkers from UK biobank without T2D at baseline were included. Cox proportional hazards models were used to examine the association between the timing of alcohol intake with respect to meals and risk of T2D. Results: During a median of 10.9 years of follow-up, 8,598 incident cases of T2D were documented. After adjustment for covariates and the amount of alcohol consumed, consuming alcohol with meals was significantly associated with a 14% lower risk of T2D (HR, 95 % CI, 0.86, 0.81-0.91), as compared with consuming alcohol outside of meals. In addition, we found that the timing of alcohol intake with respect to meals significantly modified the relations between the amount of alcohol consumed and risk of T2D ( P -interaction=0.010), the beneficial association of moderate drinking with T2D risk was only observed in participants who consumed alcohol with meals, but not in others. Further analyses on various types of alcoholic beverages indicated that the beneficial associations between alcohol drinking with meals and T2D were mainly driven by the wine consumption. Conclusions: In the current drinkers, moderate drinking of alcohol, especially wine, with meals is associated a lower risk of T2D.