Drinking alcohol three to four days a week 'could reduce risk of diabetes'

One to six beers per week reduced diabetes risk by 21 per cent in men, but had no effect in women

For both men and women, seven or more glasses of wine per week lowered the risk of diabetes by 25 to 30 per cent (Getty Images / iStock)

Drinking alcohol three or four days each week can significantly protect against developing diabetes, a study has found.

Going for a drink or consuming alcohol at home most days was associated with a reduced risk of 27 per cent in men and 32 per cent in women, compared with abstaining.

Wine had the biggest effect, probably because it contains chemical compounds that improve blood sugar balance, said researchers.

But there was a warning to women to stay clear of the gin bottle. A daily tipple of “mothers' ruin” or other spirits increased the diabetes risk to women by 83 per cent.

Previous studies had already suggested that light to moderate alcohol consumption can cut the risk of diabetes, but the new research is the first to focus on drinking frequency.

Scientists studied data on 70,551 men and women taking part in a large Danish health survey who were quizzed about their drinking habits and monitored for five years.

The authors, led by Professor Janne Tolstrup from the University of Southern Denmark, wrote in the journal Diabetologia: “Our findings suggest that alcohol drinking frequency is associated with the risk of diabetes and that consumption of alcohol over 3 to 4 weekdays is associated with the lowest risks of diabetes, even after taking average weekly alcohol consumption into account.”

During the follow-up period, a total of 859 men and 887 women from the study group developed diabetes. The investigation did not distinguish between the two forms of diabetes, Type 1 and the much more common Type 2.

In terms of the amount of alcohol consumed, men who downed 14 drinks per week were 43 per cent less likely to develop diabetes than those who drank nothing.

The diabetes risk to women who consumed nine drinks per week was 58 per cent lower than it was for non-drinkers.

For both men and women, seven or more glasses of wine per week lowered the risk of diabetes by 25 to 30 per cent compared with having less than one drink of wine.

One to six beers per week reduced diabetes risk by 21 per cent in men but had no effect on women.

Statistician Graham Wheeler, from University College London (UCL), said the large study had found an association between moderate weekly alcohol consumption and a reduced risk of diabetes, but "this alone does not prove a causal link".

“Establishing a biological mechanism for how this protective effect might work is key to understanding the findings of these types of study,“ he said.

“In the Danish study, participants were asked to recall drinking habits only once. So participants may under- or over-report their true alcohol consumption. We also don’t know how their drinking habits changed as they were followed up.

“Researchers looked at the association between diabetes onset and lots of different categories of drinking behaviour, which increases the chance of claiming at least one association is statistically significant, when actually it isn’t.

“Whilst drinkers may want to raise a glass upon hearing this news, alcohol has been linked to the increased risk of alcoholic hepatitis, liver cirrhosis and several cancers. Further research will help us piece together the complex relationship between alcohol consumption and diabetes.”

Professor Nick Finer, from University College of London Hospitals, said the study "confirms previous work showing that moderate alcohol intake (particularly wine) is associated with a lower risk of developing diabetes".

"It adds to previous work by suggesting that ‘frequent’ drinking – that is consuming alcohol on 3-4 days each week – was also protective compared to drinking 1 or less days each week.

"While this might suggest binge-drinking was harmful, the study did not find this, perhaps because the incidence of reported binge drinking was low."

“There are caveats, as always, in interpretation of these studies based on surveys," he added, noting the study was in a Danish population, where the prevalence of obesity is 10 per cent, compared to around a quarter of adults in the UK.

"They only report associations and while the associations persist even after taking into account possible confounding factors the study does not provide any evidence that increasing alcohol intake or consumption frequency will reduce the risks of diabetes," he said.

As obesity is "itself a major risk factor for type 2 diabetes", the findings "may not immediately translate to a UK population," he said.

Press Association