Moderate Drinking Reduces Diabetes and Kidney Cancer Risks in Older Women
According to two recent studies older women who drink moderately might be reducing their risk of Type 2 diabetes as well as kidney cancer.
Dr Michiel L Bots, researcher from the University Medical Center Utrecht in The Netherlands and study lead, and his team studied the alcohol consumption and risk of diabetes in over 16,300 women between the ages of 49 and 70 years.
Around 760 of the subjects developed Type 2 diabetes during the period of the study. Analysis of the results indicated women whose intake of alcohol fell between 5 to 30 grams a week were less likely to fall prey to the disease than teetotalers. Usually, one drink contains 10 grams of alcohol.
The results did not vary with the type of alcohol consumed.
Dr Bots said that the findings, published in Diabetes Care, “agree with previous observations and expand this evidence to older women and lifetime alcohol consumption.”
Another study, by Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, found that moderate drinking could also lower the risk of kidney cancer in older women. Researchers studied the alcohol intake of around 59,237 women, aged between 40 and 76 years. Around 132 of the subjects, all of whom were cancer-free at the beginning of the study in 1987, developed kidney cancer by 2004. The researchers found that those who drank at least one unit of alcohol per week faced 38 per cent lower risk of the malignant disease. Women above the age of 55 stood to benefit more, with their risk falling by 66 per cent if they were moderate drinkers.
via EarthTimes
Filed under Diabetes
