Effect of alcohol consumption on the risk of developing hypertension and type 2 diabetes

Rejekine. Researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center will attempt to determine the influence of alcohol consumption on the risk of hypertension and type 2 diabetes using data collected during a five-year study of prediabetic conditions.
Prediabetic condition is an increase in insulin resistance, more and more insulin is needed to digest the same amount of glucose, the main product of carbohydrate digestion.

Capri G. Foy, Ph.D., a research associate in the Department of Community Health Sciences will use the study data collected during the Insulin Resistance Atherosclerosis Study (IRAS) to try to resolve the different findings from previous studies on the relationship of alcohol, diabetes and hypertension.

IRA analyzed the relationship between insulin resistance and cardiovascular risk factors among U.S. adults.

The new analysis will be funded by a $ 65,008 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation under a pilot research program seeks to integrate substance abuse issues into mainstream medicine.

"Alcohol consumption is highly prevalent in the United States, with the majority of Americans became self-described current drinkers," said Foy. But studies on the effects of alcohol on diabetes have produced mixed messages.

He said that some studies "identified heavy drinking as a risk factor for type 2 diabetes, while other evidence suggests that moderate alcohol consumption - 1 to 2 drinks per day - was associated with a decreased risk of type 2 diabetes compared to complete abstinence or heavy consumption."

Study the relationship between alcohol consumption and high blood pressure, a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease, has also produced mixed results, Foy said. Several studies have shown that moderate consumption was associated with a reduced risk of high blood pressure, but that heavy drinking can increase the risk.

However, some evidence suggests that the protective effect of moderate alcohol consumption on hypertension may be less pronounced among women, said Foy

Wake Forest Baptist is the national coordinating center for the study of the IRA, which is funded by the Institute of Heart, Lung and Blood National and performed in the early 1990s in four communities: San Antonio, Texas, San Luis, Colorado, Oakland, California, and Los Angeles. IRAS study involved 1624 participants, with the same number of men and women and equal number of whites, blacks and Hispanics. Foy also noted that the IRAS database also includes urban and rural settings.

Foy will examine data from IRAS participants free of diabetes when the study began and who have normal blood pressure and will determine whether alcohol consumption is associated with new cases of this disease.

The database includes a comprehensive assessment of alcohol consumption, including quantity and frequency of alcohol use, type (beer, wine, liquor or a combination) and whether participants engaged in binge drinking.

Other researchers on this project include Lynne Wagenknecht, Dr.PH, Ralph D'Agostino Jr., Ph.D., Mark Wolfson, Ph.D., David Goff, MD, Ph.D, and Ronny Bell, Ph.D. , All Department of Public Health Sciences at Wake Forest Baptist.