Older women who drink moderately might be slashing their risk of Type 2 diabetes and kidney cancer, two separate studies have found.
The first study, by The Netherlands researchers, found that older women whose alcohol consumption is moderate lower their risk of Type 2 diabetes. Diabetes mellitus Type 2, also called non-insulin-dependent diabetes, is a metabolic disorder characterized by insulin resistance, relative insulin deficiency, and hyperglycemia. The disease, which affects people in later life, stems from genetic factors as well as lifestyle ones like obesity, lack of exercise and sedentary lifestyle. A progressive condition, Type 2 diabetes leads to deterioration of the quality of life.
Under the Dutch study, the alcohol consumption and risk of diabetes was studied in over 16,300 women between the ages of 49 and 70 years. The women, who did not have diabetes when they joined the study, were tracked for their drinking habits and health for the next six years.
Around 760 of the subjects developed Type 2 diabetes during the period of the study and an analysis of the results showed that women whose intake of alcohol fell between 5 to 30 grams a week were less likely to fall prey to the disease than teetotalers. Usually, one drink contains 10 grams of alcohol. The results did not vary with the type of alcohol consumed.
According to Dr Michiel L Bots, a researcher from the University Medical Center Utrecht and lead author of the study, previous studies to find the link between alcohol and diabetes have focused on men. In men, the link has been established through various studies. Dr Bots added that the findings “agree with previous observations and expand this evidence to older women and lifetime alcohol consumption.” The findings have been published in
Diabetes Care.
Meanwhile, the second study, by Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, found that moderate drinking could also lower the risk of kidney cancer in older women. Researchers studied the alcohol intake of around 59,237 women, aged between 40 and 76 years. Around 132 of the subjects, all of whom were cancer-free at the beginning of the study in 1987, developed kidney cancer by 2004. The researchers found that those who drank at least one unit of alcohol per week faced 38 per cent lower risk of the malignant disease. Women above the age of 55 stood to benefit more, with their risk falling by 66 per cent if they were moderate drinkers.
“The nature of the association between alcohol consumption and renal cell carcinoma (kidney cancer) is not well understood. (But) In postmenopausal women, moderate consumption of alcohol was associated with decreased triglyceride concentrations. Thus, alcohol consumption has similar effects as cholesterol-lowering statin drugs ... use of which has been associated with a 20 per cent decrease of renal cell carcinoma risk,” Dr Alicja Wolk, lead author of the study, and her team wrote in a report the
International Journal of Cancer.
