Low prevalence of the metabolic syndrome in wine drinkers—is it the alcohol beverage or the lifestyle?

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Abstract
Objective: To study how the intake of alcohol and the choice of wine, beer, and spirits is related to lifestyle factors and the metabolic syndrome in 60-y-old men and women. Design: Cross-sectional population based study. Setting: Stockholm County, Sweden. Subjects: Sixty-year-old men and women (n=4232). Results: Moderate intake of wine (10–30 g/day) was associated with a lifestyle characterized by being married, having a university education, being employed, being Swedish-born, having a good quality of life according to economy, leisure time and health, compared with a group with low alcohol intake. The opposite characteristics were seen among the non-drinkers. Drinkers of spirits were more often smokers and also reported higher intake of sausage and fried potatoes compared with a group with low alcohol intake. In women, the metabolic syndrome was significantly more common in non-drinkers (20%), PPP<0.05). Conclusion: Compared with low alcohol drinkers, moderate wine drinkers exhibited a more favorable pattern according to both lifestyle factors and metabolic parameters. The close link between alcohol drinking behaviour and lifestyle habits illustrate the complex relationship between alcohol and health. Sponsorship: Swedish Heart-Lung Foundation, the Stockholm City County Council, the Swedish Society for Medicine, and the Swedish Medical Research Council.