Diet :: Study Links Diet Quality with Alcohol Drinking Patterns

Unhealthy alcohol drinking patterns may go hand-in-hand with unhealthy eating habits, according to a new study by researchers at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Examining diet quality of individuals who drink any kind of alcoholic beverage, researchers found that people who drink the largest quantities of alcohol – even infrequently – have the poorest quality diets. Conversely, people who drink the least amount of alcohol – regardless of drinking frequency – have the best quality diets. A report of the findings appears in the February 15, 2006 issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology.

‘This is a very useful finding that refines our understanding of the relationship between patterns of alcohol consumption and other aspects of health behavior,’ said NIAAA Director Ting-Kai Li, M.D.

Previous studies have shown that moderate alcohol consumption is associated with a reduced risk for cardiovascular disease and death, notes first author Rosalind A. Breslow, Ph.D., an epidemiologist in NIAAA’s Division of Epidemiology and Prevention Research. However, diet could be partly responsible for these findings, since a healthy diet has been associated with the same outcome.

‘Clarifying the relationship between alcohol consumption and diet quality is an important step in determining the extent to which diet influences studies of alcohol and cardiovascular outcomes,’ explains Dr. Breslow. To that end, the purpose of our study was to determine the association between drinking patterns and diet quality in the U.S. population. It’s important to note that determining the cause or causes of any such association was not part of our current study.’


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