Alcohol and Lowering the Risk of Type 2 Diabetes?

The key word here is “moderate.”

To that I would add “remarkable.”

As reported in the journal Diabetes Care, a team of researchers in the Netherlands conducted a meta-analysis of 15 studies that examined the association between alcohol consumption and the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. The individual studies were conducted in several countries, including the U.S., Germany, Finland, Japan, and the UK.

All of the studies were published over the past decade and involved nearly 12,000 subjects with type 2 diabetes. The subjects were followed for an average of 12 years each.

Results showed that moderate drinkers may have a significantly lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes compared to people who don’t drink.

But the most remarkable result from this study showed that people who don’t drink at all have approximately the same risk of developing type 2 diabetes as people who drink heavily.

One of the researchers, Lando L. J. Koppes, M.D., told Reuters Health that drinking patterns proved to be a key factor. Those who drank small amounts of alcohol each day fared better than those who didn’t drink at all during the week, but binged on the weekend.

Unlike many other studies that have examined the effects of alcohol, wine did not produce the healthiest benefits. In fact the type of alcohol consumed – whether beer, wine or hard liquor – had little effect on the results.