Release Date: Jan. 14, 2003
HEALTH BENEFITS OF
MODERATE DRINKING MAY NOT APPLY TO AFRICAN-AMERICANS
By Sherry Wasilow
Special to the Health Behavior News Service
The widely reported health benefits of drinking a moderate amount
of alcohol do not extend to African-Americans, according to a new
study.
These findings follow a widely reported Jan. 9 New England
Journal of Medicine article saying that moderate daily or
near-daily alcohol consumption could decrease a man's risk of heart
disease. The researchers in the new study, published in the January
issue of the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental
Research, suggest that the difference in protective benefits of
alcohol for black men could also be a result of not how much people
drink but how they do it.
The critical factor for the African-American men studied may be
binge drinking, which could be associated with the targeted
marketing of large-volume containers of alcoholic beverages, the
researchers say.
Moderate drinkers have been shown to have a lower risk of dying
early than lifetime abstainers, and heavy drinkers show a higher
risk of dying prematurely than both of the other groups.
"One of the most discussed findings in alcohol epidemiology is
the J-shaped curve," says study author Christopher T. Sempos,
professor and director of graduate studies in the Department of
Social and Preventive Medicine at the University of Buffalo.
"Essentially, what it tells us is that some kind of drinking is
beneficial to health."
He adds, "In our study, however, this beneficial effect could not
be found in African-Americans. … We believe that patterns of
drinking - that is, how alcohol is consumed - explain the
differences between African-Americans and whites." Sempos notes that
a person who drinks heavily, but only once or twice a week, can
drink the same overall amount as someone who has just one or two
drinks each day, and would therefore be classified as a "moderate"
drinker.
Researchers looked at data collected for 2,054 African-Americans
(768 men, 1,286 women) who were part of a large national health
study conducted between 1971 and 1992.
"Basically, all alcohol has the same risk associated with it,"
Sempos says, "with no differences between beverage types, once
alcohol content is the same. There are, however, cultural
differences in consumption. For example, grape wine is most often
consumed moderately and regularly with meals. If consumed in
irregular binges outside meals, however, the same amount of alcohol
may be much more detrimental."
Tom Greenfield, director of the National Alcohol Research Center
at the Alcohol Research Group, calls the findings striking.
"Such a drinking style has no beneficial health outcomes,"
Greenfield says. "We know that African-Americans have more binge
drinking than whites or Hispanics. In addition, in some subgroups,
such as those that are socio-economically disadvantaged, special
kinds of drinks like malt liquor that come in large serving sizes
prevail."
Approximately two decades ago, according to Greenfield, the major
ethnic groups in the United States consumed alcohol at comparable
levels. However, he says, "during the late 1980s and early 1990s, as
the country experienced a 'drying' trend, there is good evidence
that frequent heavy drinking fell among white men and women, but not
so among African-American and Hispanic individuals."
"In addition, other researchers have found evidence that because
of larger containers and higher alcohol content products marketed to
African-Americans, these surveys may even underestimate the heavy
quantities consumed by ethnic minorities. These factors are just
some of those that help explain the higher risks of liver cirrhosis,
for example, among African-American and Hispanic populations
compared to whites."
The study was funded by funded by the University of Buffalo in
New York State, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in
Toronto and the Addiction Research Institute in Zurich.
# # #
Health Behavior News Service: (202) 387-2829 or
www.hbns.org.
Interviews: Contact Christopher T. Sempos at (716) 829-2975 or
sempos@buffalo.edu; Thomas
K. Greenfield at (510) 642-5208 or
tgreenfield@arg.org.
Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research: Contact
Mary Newcomb at (317) 278-4765 or
mnewcomb@iupui.edu, or visit
www.alcoholism-cer.com.
Center for the Advancement of Health
Contact: Ira R. Allen
Director of Public Affairs
202.387.2829
press@cfah.org
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