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Study Links Drinking with Obesity

How much you drink at once, and how often you drink, could have an effect on how much you weigh, according to new research from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA).

A study of drinking and body mass index (BMI) -- a person's weight in relation to their height -- found that those who drank the least tended to have the lowest BMI scores. "In our study, men and women who drank the smallest quantity of alcohol -- one drink per drinking day -- with the greatest frequency -- three to seven days per week -- had the lowest BMI's, while those who infrequently consumed the greatest quantity had the highest BMIs," said lead NIAAA researcher Rosalind A. Breslow, Ph.D.

Binge drinkers, in other words, may be more likely to be overweight, although Breslow cautioned against drawing a cause-and-effect relationship from the study.

"Alcohol consumption consists of two components: the amount consumed on drinking days (quantity), and how often drinking days occur (frequency)," said Breslow. "Previous studies generally examined drinking based only on average volume consumed over time. However, average volume provides a limited description of alcohol consumption as it does not account for drinking patterns. For example, an average volume of 7 drinks per week could be achieved by consuming 1 drink each day or 7 drinks on a single day. Average volume may not fully explain important relations between quantity and frequency of drinking and health outcomes such as obesity."

Breslow said that weight gain could be attributable to alcohol use stimulating hunger, or the failure of liquid calories in alcohol to trigger feelings of fullness.

The study looked at data on 37,000 nonsmoking adults. The research was published in the Feb. 15, 2005, issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology.




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