Alcohol Consumption, Weight Gain, and Risk of Becoming Overweight in Middle-aged and Older Women
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND: The obesity epidemic is a major health problem in the United States. Alcohol consumption is a source of energy intake that may contribute to body weight gain and development of obesity. However, previous studies of this relationship have been limited, with inconsistent results. METHODS: We conducted a prospective cohort study among 19 220 US women aged 38.9 years or older who were free of cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes mellitus and had a baseline body mass index (BMI; calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared) within the normal range of 18.5 to less than 25. Alcoholic beverage consumption was reported on a baseline questionnaire. Body weight was self-reported on baseline and 8 annual follow-up questionnaires. RESULTS: There was an inverse association between amount of alcohol consumed at baseline and weight gained during 12.9 years of follow-up. A total of 7942 (41.3%) initially normal-weight women became overweight or obese (BMI > or =25) and 732 (3.8%) became obese (BMI > or =30). After adjusting for age, baseline BMI, smoking status, nonalcohol energy intake, physical activity level, and other lifestyle and dietary factors, the relative risks of becoming overweight or obese across total alcohol intake of 0, more than 0 to less than 5, 5 to less than 15, 15 to less than 30, and 30 g/d or more were 1.00, 0.96, 0.86, 0.70, and 0.73, respectively (P( )for trend( )<.001). The corresponding relative risks of becoming obese were 1.00, 0.75, 0.43, 0.39, and 0.29 (P( )for trend( )<.001). The associations were similar by subgroups of age, smoking status, physical activity level, and baseline BMI. CONCLUSION: Compared with nondrinkers, initially normal-weight women who consumed a light to moderate amount of alcohol gained less weight and had a lower risk of becoming overweight and/or obese during 12.9 years of follow-up.
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Earlier research on alcohol and weight gain has not given consistent results.
“Findings have been inconsistent in prior studies of alcohol use and weight gain.34–37”
From Changes in diet and lifestyle and long-term weight gain in women and men (2011) · cites this paper as [37]
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- Authors
- Wang, L.
- Affiliations
- Brigham and Women's Hospital (US)
- Corresponding author
- Wang, Lu
- ORCID
- Wang, Lu
- Venue
- Archives of Internal Medicine
- Publisher
- American Medical Association (AMA)
- Published
- 2010-03-08
- Volume
- 170
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 453
- ISSN
- 0003-9926 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC2837522
- OpenAlex
- W1987210534
- Cited by
- 150
- References
- 43
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 14 · 2015: 10 · 2014: 12 · 2013: 13 · 2012: 22
- FWCI
- 10.83
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Archives of Internal Medicine (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (5r01hl043851-10)
- National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (R01HL080467, R01‐HL043851, HL080467)
- National Cancer Institute (CA-47988, R01CA047988)
- National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (DK081141, R01DK066401, R21DK081141)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pathology and Forensic Medicine › Alcohol Consumption and Health Effects
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Nutritional Studies and Diet
- Keywords
- alcohol consumption, weight gain, obesity, overweight, middle-aged women, older women, body mass index, energy intake
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Alcohol Drinking, Energy Intake, Feeding Behavior, Female, Humans, Life Style, Middle Aged, Obesity, Prospective Studies, Surveys and Questionnaires, Risk Factors, United States, Weight Gain, Confounding Factors, Epidemiologic, Body Mass Index, Multivariate Analysis, Confidence Intervals, Odds Ratio, Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic, Women's Health, Risk Assessment, Overweight
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