ULCER/HELICOBACTER PYLORI

Brenner H et al Inverse graded relation between alcohol consumption and active infection with Helicobacter pylori. AM J EPIDEMIOL 1999;149:571-6.

Another  cross-sectional study (see Brenner below and in SMFW Bulletin, Vol. 40 No. 1 1998), this time in 417 men and women connected with a single German company, confirms that wine consumption was associated with a  reduced H. pylori infection.

Active H. pylori infection, as measured by the ¹³ C-urea breath test, was significantly reduced for consumers of more than 75 grams of total alcohol (odds ratio of 0.31  compared to abstainers with 95% confidence interval of 0.12 to 0.81). The only statistically significant inverse trend for beverage type was for wine and not beer (p for trend = 0.01). The authors conclude: "This study among healthy employees and their household members reveals an inverse graded relation between alcohol consumption and, in particular, alcohol consumption in form of wine, and active infection with H. pylori."

Brenner H et al Relation of smoking and alcohol and coffee consumption to activeHelicobacter pylori infection: cross sectional study. BMJ 1997;315:1489-92.

Dose dependent consumption of beer and wine protects against active Helicobacter pylori infection.

This cross sectional study of 447 patients aged 15 - 79 years (mean 43), who attended a general practitioner in Blaustein in the south of Germany, utilized the carbon-13 urea breath test to measure active Helicobacter pylori infection. Self-administered questionnaire of the average amount of different alcoholic beverages per week demonstrated that most subjects drank either or both beer or wine rather than spirits. In the south of Germany one liter of beer and one half liter of wine are assumed to contain an average of fifty grams ethanol.  Adjusted odds ratios were calculated by multiple logistic regression utilizing the following covariates: age, sex, German (97% of patients) or other nationality, schooling, parental history of gastric or duodenal ulcer, smoking and coffee consumption. The overall prevalence of infection was 21% (94/447).

Negative dose-response relation was observed between alcohol consumption and active infection with a P value for trend of 0.005. There was a significant reduction in the prevalence of positive carbon-13 urea breath tests for patients who drank more than 75 grams ethanol/week compared to abstainers with an adjusted odds ratio at 0.33 (95% confidence interval, 0.16-0.68). The individual odds ratios for beer or wine at more than fifty grams ethanol equivalent intake per week were as follows: wine - 0.33 (95% CI, 0.14-0.81) and beer - 0.38 (95% CI,  0.17-0.85).

Therefore the moderate consumption of beer or wine appears to protect against Helicobacter pylori infection.

Aldoori W H et al A prospective study of alcohol, smoking, caffeine, and the risk of duodenal ulcer in men. EPIDEMIOL 1997;8:420-4.

Moderate wine drinking does not increase duodenal ulcers.

The Health Professionals Follow-up Study has updated questionnaires every two years  since 1988 on 51,529 male US. health professionals to identify various diseases, including whether duodenal ulcer had been diagnosed. Alcohol intake was divided into beer, wine, and liquor categories. The relative risk  of duodenal ulcer according to moderate beer, wine, or liquor intake showed no statistical association. 

[Home] [About] [Health/Wine] [Calendar] [Membership] [Links] [Photo Gallery] [Newsletter]

copyright 2004/Disclaimer

Site created and maintained by Ed Bierman, MLS