Drinking moderate amounts of alcohol appears to protect older women from developing type 2 or non-insulin-dependent diabetes, Dutch researchers report.

Although an association between alcohol use and reduced diabetes risk has been observed previously, much exploration of this topic has centered on men and few studies have involved older women, Dr. Michiel L. Bots of University Medical Center Utrecht and colleagues note in the journal Diabetes Care.

Because diabetes increases with age and most type 2 diabetic patients are women, they investigated the relationship between alcohol and diabetes onset in older women. The team examined data from a cohort of more than 16,300 women aged 49 to 70 years who were diabetes-free at enrollment and were followed for an average of 6.2 years.

During this period, 760 women were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Compared with abstainers, women consuming moderate amounts of alcohol (5 to 30 grams per week) were much less likely to develop diabetes. Ten grams of alcohol constitutes one standard drink.

There was no association with type of drink. Lifetime alcohol consumption was associated with type 2 diabetes in a U-shaped fashion - in that it was increased in abstainers and excessive drinkers in comparison with those with moderate consumption.

The investigators note that their data “agree with previous observations and expand this evidence to older women and lifetime alcohol consumption.”

SOURCE: Diabetes Care, December 2005.