Abstract
BackgroundExcessive alcohol intake has been shown to be associated with cardiovascular disease via metabolic pathways. However, the relationship between alcohol intake and obesity has not been fully elucidated. We aimed to examine the association of alcohol consumption with fat deposition and anthropometric measures.MethodsFrom 2006–2008, we conducted a cross-sectional study in a population-based sample of Japanese men aged 40 through 79 years. Areas of abdominal visceral adipose tissue (VAT) and subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) were calculated using computed tomography imaging. Based on a questionnaire, we classified participants into five groups according to weekly alcohol consumption, excluding former drinkers: non-drinkers (0 g/week), 0.1–160.9, 161–321.9, 322–482.9, and ≥483 g/week. Multivariable linear regression was used to estimate adjusted means of obesity indices for each group.ResultsWe analyzed 998 men (mean age and body mass index [BMI], 63.8 years and 23.6 kg/m2, respectively). Higher weekly alcohol consumption was strongly and significantly associated with higher abdominal VAT area, percentage of VAT, and VAT-to-SAT ratio (all P for trend <0.001), and also with waist circumferences and waist-to-hip ratio (P for trend = 0.042 and 0.007, respectively). These associations remained significant after further adjustment for BMI, whereas alcohol consumption had no significant association with abdominal SAT area.ConclusionsHigher alcohol consumption was associated with higher VAT area, VAT%, and VAT-to-SAT ratio, independent of confounders, including BMI, in general Japanese men. These results suggest that alcohol consumption may have a potential adverse effect on visceral fat deposition.
Highlights
Overweight and obesity are estimated to cause 3.4 million deaths globally each year,[1] and the prevalence of obesity has increased worldwide.[2]
Weekly alcohol consumption was positively associated with abdominal visceral adipose tissue (VAT), total adipose tissue (TAT), VAT%, VAT-to-SAT ratio (VSR), waist circumferences (WC), and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR)
According to age-adjusted Pearson’s correlation coefficients (r) between obesity indices, BMI, WC, and waist-toheight ratio (WHtR) were strongly and positively correlated with abdominal TAT, VAT, and subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) area, but not with VAT% or VSR
Summary
Overweight and obesity are estimated to cause 3.4 million deaths globally each year,[1] and the prevalence of obesity has increased worldwide.[2] Obesity has a major impact on cardiovascular health.[3,4] In addition, fat deposition has been recognized as an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD)[5,6] and is related to metabolic syndrome[7,8,9] and subclinical atherosclerosis.[8,10] visceral adipose tissue (VAT) showed a stronger association with CVD than subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT).[5] greater VAT-to-SAT ratio (VSR) was reported to be associated with CVD.[11]. A few population-based studies investigated the association of alcohol consumption with VAT and SAT in Western countries,[17] where BMI is generally higher than in other regions, including Japan. A number of studies have investigated the relationships between alcohol intake and anthropometric measures, including body mass index. We aimed to examine the association of alcohol consumption with fat deposition and anthropometric measures
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