Alcohol Contribution to Total Energy Intake and Its Association with Nutritional Status and Diet Quality in Eight Latina American Countries.

Juan Carlos Brenes,Mauro Fisberg,Viviana Guajardo,Gerson Ferrari,Attilio Rigotti,Ana Carolina B Leme,Regina Mara Fisberg,Lilia Yadira Cortés,Irina Kovalskys,Marianella Herrera-Cuenca,Dayana Quesada,Martha Cecilia Yépez García,On Behalf Of The Elans Study Group ,Georgina Gómez,Reyna Liria-Domínguez

doi:10.3390/ijerph182413130

Abstract

Alcohol consumption is a modifiable risk factor for non-communicable diseases. This study aimed to characterize alcohol consumers at the nutritional, anthropometric, and sociodemographic levels. Data from 9218 participants from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela participating in “Latin American Health and Nutrition Study (ELANS)”, a multi-country, population-based study, were used. Dietary intake was collected through two, 24 h recalls. Participants were classified into consumers (n = 1073) and non-alcohol consumers (n = 8145) using a cut-off criterium of ≥15 g/day of alcohol consumption calculated from the estimation of their usual daily intake. Among alcohol consumers, the mean alcohol consumption was 69.22 ± 2.18 grams (4.6. beverages/day), contributing to 484.62 kcal, which corresponded to 16.86% of the total energy intake. We found that the risk of alcohol consumption was higher in young and middle-aged men from low and middle socioeconomic status. Argentine, Brazil, and Chile had the highest percentage of consumers, while Ecuador showed the highest alcohol consumption. Alcohol drinkers were characterized by having higher body weight and wider neck, waist, hips circumferences. Alcohol drinkers had a higher energy intake, with macronutrients providing relatively less energy at the expense of the energy derived from alcohol. Alcohol drinkers showed lower and higher consumptions of healthy and unhealthy food groups, respectively. In addition, adequacy ratios for all micronutrients assessed were lower in alcohol consumers. All these deleterious effects of alcohol on nutritional and anthropometric parameters increased with the number of alcoholic beverages consumed daily. Altogether, these findings suggest that limiting alcohol consumption can contribute to reducing the risk of obesity, metabolic syndrome, and diet-related diseases.

Highlights

Alcoholic beverages have been part of the human diet for cultural, social, and spiritual reasons [1]
We reported marginal means ± standard error of the mean (SEM) because these means were adjusted for the covariates included in the models and showed the exact values corresponding to the statistical analysis
Alcohol consumption can be considered as an obesogenic factor as it increased anthropometric parameters of obesity and total energy intake, with macronutrients providing relatively less energy at expenses of the energy derived from alcohol

Summary

Introduction

Alcoholic beverages have been part of the human diet for cultural, social, and spiritual reasons [1]. Alcohol consumption is considered a risk factor for early death, causing approximately 3 million deaths worldwide each year [7]. It is a modifiable risk factor associated with a wide range of noncommunicable diseases, such as cardiovascular and liver diseases, cancer, neurological and psychiatric disorders (e.g., neurocognitive and drug dependence disorders), and unintentional injuries [7,8]. Alcohol provides 7 kcal/g, making it the second most important source of energy in the diet, surpassed only by fats, which have about 9 kcal/g [10] It is expected, that the energy derived from alcohol consumption will sum up to other energy sources promoting a positive energy balance potentially leading to weight gain [11,12]. The alcohol-driven, inhibitory control impairment may be another mechanism explaining higher food intake when drinking alcohol before or during meals [12]

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