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Wine consumption throughout life is inversely associated with type 2 diabetes risk, but only in overweight individuals: results from a large female French cohort study

European Journal of Epidemiology volume 29, pages 831–839 (2014)Cite this article

Abstract

Alcohol has previously been shown to have a U-shaped association with type 2 diabetes (T2D) risk, but less is known regarding the specific association with wine. To evaluate for the first time the associations between T2D risk and both baseline wine consumption and trajectories of wine consumption frequency throughout life, estimated using an innovative group-based trajectory modeling strategy. A total of 66,485 women from the French prospective E3N-EPIC cohort were followed between 1993 and 2007; 1,372 incident cases of T2D were diagnosed during the follow-up. Multivariable Cox regression models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95 % confidence intervals (95 % CI) for T2D risk. The average consumption of wine, among alcohol consumers, was 0.81 drinks/day (1 drink = 150 mL). Associations between wine and T2D were restricted to overweight women (Pinteraction = 0.0084). Among them, wine consumption was inversely associated with T2D risk (Ptrend = 0.0022). A lower risk was observed for overweight women having two or more drinks/day [HR 0.59 (0.43–0.82)] when compared with non-alcohol consumers. Women who started to drink wine early in life (around age 10–15 years) were at a significantly lower risk than lifetime abstainers. In our study, wine drinking was inversely associated with T2D risk but only in overweight women. Our results also suggest a potential beneficial, cumulative effect of moderate wine consumption throughout life for overweight women, who would already be at higher risk of T2D. We encourage other cohort studies with information on wine consumption to investigate these associations.

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Fig. 1

Abbreviations

E3N:

Etude Epidémiologique auprès des femmes de la Mutuelle Générale de l’Education Nationale

EPIC:

European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition

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Acknowledgments

We are indebted to all participants in the study and are grateful to the E3N-EPIC group. The article has been edited for grammar, spelling, vocabulary, and phrasing by the American Journal Experts. The study is supported by the Mutuelle Générale de l’Education Nationale, the Institut de Cancérologie Gustave Roussy, and the Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale. The validation of potential diabetes cases was supported by the European Union (Integrated Project LSHM-CT-2006-037197 in the Framework Programme 6 of the European Community) InterAct project. Study sponsors had no role in the design of the study, the analysis or interpretation of data, the writing of the manuscript, or the decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

Conflict of interest

The authors had no conflicts of interest to declare.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Research in Epidemiology and Population Health (CESP), INSERM (Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale) U1018, Team 9, Nutrition, Hormones and Women’s Health, Gustave Roussy Institute, 114 rue Edouard Vaillant, 94805, Villejuif Cedex, France

    Guy Fagherazzi, Alice Vilier, Marie-Christine Boutron-Ruault, Beverley Balkau & Françoise Clavel-Chapelon

  2. Paris-South University, Villejuif, France

    Guy Fagherazzi, Alice Vilier, Marie-Christine Boutron-Ruault, Beverley Balkau & Françoise Clavel-Chapelon

  3. Center for Research on Population Health, National Institute of Public Health of Mexico, Cuernavaca, Mexico

    Martin Lajous

  4. CHU Rennes, Rennes, France

    Fabrice Bonnet

  5. Inserm UMR 970, Paris, France

    Fabrice Bonnet

Authors
  1. Guy Fagherazzi
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  2. Alice Vilier
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  3. Martin Lajous
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  4. Marie-Christine Boutron-Ruault
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  5. Beverley Balkau
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  6. Françoise Clavel-Chapelon
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  7. Fabrice Bonnet
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Guy Fagherazzi.

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Cite this article

Fagherazzi, G., Vilier, A., Lajous, M. et al. Wine consumption throughout life is inversely associated with type 2 diabetes risk, but only in overweight individuals: results from a large female French cohort study. Eur J Epidemiol 29, 831–839 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-014-9955-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-014-9955-7

Keywords

  • Diabetes
  • Alcohol
  • Wine
  • Cohort
  • Risk
  • Lifestyle
  • Biological mechanisms