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Associations between alcohol and obesity in more than 100,000 adults in England and Scotland

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journal contribution
posted on 2017-11-24, 10:44 authored by Gary O'Donovan, Emmanuel Stamatakis, Mark Hamer
The objective of this cross-sectional study was to clarify the association between alcohol and obesity using data from 106,182 adults in England and Scotland (46.7% male; 46.9±16.9 years [mean±SD]). Trained interviewers asked participants about alcohol intake. Obesity was defined as body mass index ≥ 30 kg·m-2. Potential confounders included age, sex, smoking, physical activity, longstanding illness, psychological distress, and socioeconomic status. Compared with those who drank at least five times a week, obesity risk was 1.21 (95% confidence interval: 1.15, 1.27) in those who drank one to four times a week, 1.53 (1.43, 1.62) in those who drank one to two times a month, 1.61 (1.52, 1.71) in those who drank less than once every couple of months, 1.34 (1.23, 1.47) in those who were former drinkers, and 1.03 (0.95, 1.11) in those who were never drinkers. Compared with those who drank a harmful volume, obesity risk was 0.78 (0.68, 0.90) in those who drank within guidelines, 0.69 (0.54, 0.88) in former drinkers, and 0.50 (0.40, 0.63) in never drinkers; And, these associations were biased away from the null after adjustment for drinking volume. Abstinence was associated with increased risk of obesity in women. These data suggest that the association between drinking frequency and obesity is bell-shaped, with obesity risk not significantly different in those who drink most often and never drinkers. Drinking volume has a positive confounding effect on the association between drinking frequency and obesity, which may help explain the conflicting findings of other studies.

History

School

  • Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences

Published in

British Journal of Nutrition

Citation

O'DONOVAN, G., STAMATAKIS, E. and HAMER, M., 2018. Associations between alcohol and obesity in more than 100,000 adults in England and Scotland. British Journal of Nutrition, 119(2), pp.222-227.

Publisher

© The Authors. Published by Cambridge University Press (CUP)

Version

  • AM (Accepted Manuscript)

Acceptance date

2017-11-22

Publication date

2018

Notes

This article has been published in a revised form in British Journal of Nutrition https://doi.org/10.1017/S000711451700352X. This version is free to view and download for private research and study only. Not for re-distribution, re-sale or use in derivative works. © The Authors.

ISSN

0007-1145

eISSN

1475-2662

Language

  • en

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