Tag Archives: alcohol prevents diabetes

Lower My Risk of Diabetes? I’ll Drink to That!

Beautiful woman smiling as she is wine tasting on a summer day.
How many grams of alcohol are in this wine?

Judicious alcohol consumption is linked to lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes: 40% lower risk in women, 13% lower in men. 

The latest issue of Diabetes Care reports the comparison of lifetime abstainers with alcohol drinkers.  The protective “dose” of alcohol is 22–24 grams a day.  I’ll leave it to you to figure out how much alcohol that is.  Prior studies looking at overall health benefits of alcohol indicate that judicious consumption is ≤ one drink daily, on average,  for women, and  ≤ 2 drinks a day for men.

Of course, many people shouldn’t drink any alcohol.  

Steve Parker, M.D.  

Reference:  Baliunas, D., et al.  Alcohol as a risk factor for type 2 diabetes: A systematic review and meta-analysisDiabetes Care, 32 (2009): 2,123-2,132.

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Filed under Alcohol, Prevention of T2 Diabetes