|
Three recent articles contribute to the ongoing studies of alcohol and body weight.
Please refer to a review by William Lands
(AM J CLIN NUTR 1995;62:1101s-6s) for a summary of the current evidence relating alcohol to energy intake. Some general aspects are summarized as follows: "The energy value of alcohol for humans is not expressed consistently in the way that it is for other dietary sources of energy." "The apparent inability of alcohol to equal the actions of isoenergetic amounts of dietary carbohydrate suggests that either alcohol-derived energy does not fully count or that alcohol may promote wastage of energy." "The cumulative evidence of 31 separate studies does not support the concept that reduced alcohol consumption would help maintain a lower body weight." "Clearly, the energy of alcohol is converted into body mass in different individuals in strikingly contrasting ways that are not yet understood."
Cordain L et al Influence of moderate daily wine consumption on body weightregulation and metabolism in healthy free-living males.
J AMER COLL NUTR 1997;16:134-9.
The addition of two glasses of red wine to evening meals did not result in weight gain.
Fourteen healthy male subjects (mean age = 32 years) participated in a crossover study in which they either drank wine (two 135 ml servings
of Gallo Cabernet Sauvignon) with their evening meal for the first six weeks and then abstained for the next six weeks or vice-versa. No significant changes in body weight, body fat by hydrostatic weighing or body
fat by multiple skinfold thickness measurements were noted after the wine-added periods. This occurred despite the fact that during the wine consuming treatment period there was no significant change in the caloric
intake or the macronutrient content of the subject's diet. The authors believe their study supports the concept that moderate consumption of two glasses of wine per day with meals in free-living subjects does not
influence body weight and would not promote the development of obesity (at least over a six week period).
Kahn H S et al Stable behaviors associated with adults' 10-year change inbody mass index and likelihood of gain at the waist.
AM J PUBLIC HEALTH 1997;87:747-54.
Wine drinking was not associated with weight gain.
Healthy middle-aged US adults participated in the American Cancer Society's Cancer Prevention Study II, a large (35,156 men and 44,080
women) 10-year prospective study of behaviors associated with change in body mass index or with weight gain at the waist.
Wine, beer or liquor was associated with the following:
BMI (for consumption five or more days per week)
- Men: Wine and liquor - No change.
- Women: Decrease for all forms of alcohol.
WEIGHT GAIN AT THE WAIST
- Men: No change with any form of alcohol.
- Women: No change with wine.
- Increase with occasional use of beer and liquor.
Mannisto S et al Alcohol beverage drinking, diet and body mass index in across-sectional survey. EUR J CLIN NUTR 1997;51:326-32.
Alcohol drinkers were leaner than abstainers.
From four diverse areas of Finland 985 women and 862 men completed self-administered dietary questionnaires as part of the 1992 Finmonica
Risk Factor Survey. Despite the similar total daily energy intakes, daily energy expenditure, and physical activity index, alcohol consumers had lower body mass index.
|
