Tag Archives: wine consumption

The Effect of Wine Consumption on Repeat Cardiovascular Events after Heart Attack

Posted on January 2, 2013 by Becca| 7 Comments

 

We’ve all seen the reports suggesting that wine consumption, particular red wine, is beneficial for many aspects of one’s health, with the most studied probably being wine’s affect on cardiovascular health.  Studies have shown that red wine consumption may have cardiovascular health benefits by way of cardioprotective properties.  Of course, there are other studies that suggest there is no link between red wine consumption and cardiovascular health benefits; however, when in consumed in moderation, there does appear to be something going on.

Most of the studies to date have examined animals or people with or without cardiac disease risk factors prior to any adverse events occurring.  According to

By Patrick J. Lynch (1999), modified by Christian 2003 (Yale University - School of medicine) [CC-BY-2.5 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5)], via Wikimedia Commons

By Patrick J. Lynch (1999), modified by Christian 2003 (Yale University – School of medicine) [CC-BY-2.5 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5)], via Wikimedia Commons

the authors of the short study presented today, very few studies have examined the effect of red wine consumption on people who have recently experienced a cardiac event and how their risk changes with continued red wine consumption post cardiac event.

Methods

A total of 11,323 Italian participants were enrolled in this study.  Questions regarding demographics, cardiovascular risk factors, medications, dietary habits, and medical history were answered.  After cardiac events, participants were given advice and instructions on how they should eat and/or drink and general lifestyle changes.

Participants were followed over time at clinic visits to update information on any lifestyle and health changes.  Clinic visits were 0.5, 1.5, and 3.5 years after the initial cardiac event.  Heart attack was considered the initial cardiac event.

Daily wine intake was determined and consumers were separated into the following categories: 1) never/almost never; 2) up to 0.5L per day (0.1-3.3 glasses); 3) between 0.5L and 1L per day (3.4-6.8 glasses); and 4) greater than 1L per day (greater than 6.8 glasses).

Photo by isante_magazine: http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4086/5057195715_74f63d6cca.jpg

Photo by isante_magazine: http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4086/5057195715_74f63d6cca.jpg

Results

  • 85.4% of participants were male and 14.6% were female.
  • After heart attack, those participants drinking higher amounts of wine tended to be younger, more likely have lower systolic blood pressure, able to perform an exercise stress test, current smoker and less likely to have had more than one heart attack, diabetes, or hypertension.
  • Wine consumption as associated with consumption of butter, cheese, coffee, and oils and negatively associated with consumption of fish, fruit, vegetables, and olive oil.
  • During the first 6 months after heart attack, the proportion on non-drinkers increased.
    • 21.6% of wine drinkers reported giving up drinking after heart attack.
    • 24% of those drinking less than 0.5L and 15% of those drinking greater than 0.5L stopped drinking wine completely.
    • For those drinking greater than 0.5L of wine per day, 80% of them reduced their wine consumption by 6 months after heart attack.
    • Only a small number of participants increased wine consumption after heart attack.
  • After 37,021 person-years after the initial heart attack, there were 1168 cardiovascular events including 671 deaths related to cardiovascular events, 456 heart attacks (nonfatal), and 119 strokes (nonfatal).
  • The rate of new cardiovascular events was lower in participants who consumed higher levels of wine.
    • The rate of new cardiovascular events was lowest in participants who consumed moderate levels of wine (up to 0.5L per day).
  • The risk of new cardiovascular events decreased by 13% for those consuming up to 0.5L of wine per day compared with nondrinkers.
  • No significant differences between wine consumption and cardiovascular events were found when other confounding factors were included (i.e. sex and compliance with advised treatment).
  • Pharmacological treatments did not affect the results of the study.
  • After the long-term follow up (between 5.7 and 7.3 years) and 60,022 person-years, 1659 participants had died (1400 men and 259 women).
  • Wine consumption up to 0.5L and more than 0.5L per day was associated with a lower risk of death than nondrinkers.

Results

According to the authors, the results of this study suggest that moderate wine consumption was associated with a new cardiovascular event after a prior heart attack.  However, once changing in drinking habits and other confounding factors were taken into consideration, this association was no longer significant.  The authors noted that since they were not able to include the highest level of alcohol consumption (greater than 1L per day) due to too few participants actually consuming that much on a regular basis, there could have been some weakening in power of the analysis.

If you don’t take the confounding factors into consideration, the results suggest that there is a negative association between moderate wine consumption and

By Alex Proimos (Flickr: The Stethoscope) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

By Alex Proimos (Flickr: The Stethoscope) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

cardiovascular events and death due to new cardiovascular events.  According to the authors, those Italian individuals with prior cardiovascular history may have reduced risk of repeat events if they consume moderate amounts of wine.

Taking confounding factors into consideration is very important, so I’m not sure why the authors would still focus on the positive results they found prior to taking these results into consideration.  The fact of the matter is that confounding factors are important, and if including them in the model result in insignificant results, well then that should be the result you present.  There were other factors that were not taken into consideration that limited the study, including data on physical activity and other types of alcohol consumed by participants.  Both of these could have significant impacts on the results of the study.

The authors concluded by saying that light to moderate wine consumption was not associated with increased risks of cardiovascular events or cardiovascular-related deaths, which is a result I can get on board with based on the statistics.  While it is true wine consumption did not increase the risk of further cardiovascular events, it is not clear whether or not wine consumption actually decreases this risk.  The study should be repeated with more confounding factors taken into consideration.  Also, the study should be repeated in other locations, since the dietary habits of Italians and people from other corners of the world are different and thereby the cardiovascular risks will likely be different.

I’d love to hear what you all think of this study.  Please feel free to leave your comments!

Source: Levantesi, G., Marfisi, R., Mozaffarian, D., Franzosi, M.G., Maggioni, A., Nicolosi, G.L., Schweiger, C., Siletta, M., Tavazzi, L., Tognoni, G., and Marchioli, R. 2011. Wine consumption and risk of cardiovascular events after myocardial infarction: Results from the GISSI-Prevenzione trial. International Journal of Cardiology, doi: 10.1016/j.ijcard.2011.06.053.

Posted in Health

Tagged , , , , , ,

Do Self-Reports on Drinking Motives Reflect Actual Alcohol Consumption in Real-Life Scenarios?

Posted on December 12, 2012 by Becca| Leave a comment

 

What motivates someone to drink has been linked to the amount of alcohol one typically consumes.  Previously on The Academic Wino, a study was presented that showed people consuming alcohol for “positive” reasons (such as the taste or the health benefits of the wine) did not typically express problem drinking behaviors, whereas people consuming alcohol for “negative” reasons (such as reducing anxiety, coping with stress, or peer pressure) are much more likely to experience problem drinking behavior.

Some studies have shown that those that are motivated by internal factors, such as drinking to have fun or drinking to forget personal problems, are much more likely to drink more heavily than those that are motivated by external factors, such as drinking to be socialor drinking to fit in with the group.  The thinking is that those that are influenced by internal factors will tend to drink not only when

Philippe Mercier (circa 1689(1689)-1760) [Public domain or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

they are with other people, but also when they are all alone, whereas those that are influence by external factors will only tend to drink when in the company of a group of people.  To generalize, those influenced by external factors tend to be more moderate drinkers overall than heavy drinkers.

To date, nearly all of the studies focused on motivation for drinking have relied upon self-reporting by the participants themselves, a method by which is known to suffer from bias.  To be more specific, there could be errors in the self-reporting data due to forgetfulness of past events, as well as guilt or embarrassment by the participant in regards to how much they actually drink on a regular basis.

To combat this issue of bias in self-reporting, the study presented today combined self-reporting with a wine tasting experiment, in order to determine if drinking motives as reported by participants were able to predict the amount of alcohol consumed during the tasting sessions some time later or if the answers supplied by participants inaccurately represented their drinking habits in actual drinking situations.

Methods

Participants were recruited in the fall of 2010 from Lausanne University in Switzerland and were required to be between the ages of 18 and 25, have no significant health problems or history of substance abuse.

Participants filled out a 10 minute questionnaire that asked questions related to sociodemographics as well as alcohol consumption behavior questions.

A total of 123 subjects participated in all experiments during the study.

As an incentive to participate, subjects were entered into a drawing to win the equivalent of $600 USD, were given money to cover the cost of public transportation to the sessions, and were given a snack after each session.

There were a total of 3 data collection sessions: 1) the questionnaire; 2) a first wine tasting session; and 3) a second wine tasting session. There was a total of 1 month in between each session.

Participants were told that the wine tasting experiments were to determine the influence of human interactions on sensory experiences during the tasting.

Wine tasting sessions were held in an area designed to look like a comfortable bar.  Participants were asked to refrain from drinking any alcoholic beverages within 12 hours before each wine tasting session.

At the start of each tasting, a research assistant went over standard wine tasting protocol with participants.  Participants were each given a spit bucket as well as water.  Participants were told that they were not required to swallow the wines they tasted.

During the tasting sessions, participants were given 4 glasses with 110g of red wine.  The alcohol level of the wine was 13.5%, which translates to about 12g of alcohol per glass of wine.  Each tasting session lasted 25 minutes.

To determine the influence of social context on amount of alcohol consumed, the two tasting sessions were arranged so that either the participants were separated from one another to prevent any interaction or visual contact or they were arranged in groups of 4-8 participants with the ability to interact and be social.  In the group setting, discussions were moderated by the research assistant.  For each tasting session, men and women were kept separately from one another.  Each participant was randomly assigned to a tasting group; in order to (as the authors explained) avoid close friends participating in the same group together.

After the tasting sessions, the amount of wine remaining in the glass for each individual was measured, as well as how much wine was found in the spit buckets for each individual.  The amount of wine left in the glasses and in the spit buckets was subtracted from the original amount of wine presented to the participants, and converted to grams of pure alcohol.  This value represented the total amount of alcohol consumed per tasting session per individual participant.

By CDC [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Drinking motives, alcohol use, and problem drinking behavior was analyzed and determined using participants’ responses on a questionnaire.

Drinking motive categories included: 1) enhancement (i.e. drinking to have fun); 2) coping (i.e. drinking to forget personal problems); 3) social (i.e. drinking to be social among peers); and 4) conformity (i.e. drinking to fit in with the group).

 

 

 

 

 

Results

  • 45.5% of participants were male, and 54.5% were female.
  • The mean age of participants was 21.9 years.
  • 17.1% of participants were found to be socially motivated.
    • 52.4% of the socially motivated participants were male and 47.6% were female.
  • 16.3% of participants were found to be enhancement motivated.
    • 55.0% of the enhancement motivated participants were male, and 45% were female.
  • 70.6% of the conformity motive participants were female, while 29.4% were male.
  • 54.5% of participants claimed they drank two or more times per week.
  • 60.2% of participants claimed they drank three or more drinks during a day that they are drinking.
  • 35.0% of participants claimed they had 6 or more drinks during a day that they are drinking.
  • Participants reporting high quantities of drinking or binge drinking tended to be motivated more by enhancement motives than those drinking for any other motive.
  • During the first wine tasting session, an average of 15.6g of alcohol per participant was consumed.
  • During the second wine tasting session, an average of 18.8g of alcohol per participant was consumed.
    • The tendency to drink more during the second session was most notable among participants drinking for coping reasons.
  • Drinking greater amounts of alcohol was associated with high levels of social motivation, as well as a low level of coping or conformity motivation.
  • Men reported drinking more frequently and binge drinking more often than women.
  • For both tasting sessions, men consumed 22.5g more alcohol than women (on average).
    • Men consumed 11g more alcohol than women during the first tasting session, and 11.4g more alcohol during the second tasting session.
    • Looking at each tasting session separately, there were no significant differences between the sexes in regards to alcohol consumption (though it was close).  Taking both tasting sessions together, men consumed significantly more alcohol than women.
  • Those participants starting in the group setting during the tasting sessions consumed 7.9g more alcohol than participants starting in the individual setting.
  • Those participants self-reporting as being motivated by enhancement reasons consumed significantly more alcohol than participants reporting other motivations for drinking.
  •  Those participants self-reporting as being motivated by conformity reasons consumed significantly less alcohol than participants reporting other motivations for drinking.
  • The self-reported motivation for drinking could not predict the amount of alcohol consumed during each tasting session individually, however, self-reported motivation for drinking could predict the total amount of alcohol consumed after both tasting sessions.
  • From the first tasting session to the second tasting session, coping motivated drinkers significantly increased their alcohol consumption.
  • From the first tasting session to the second tasting session, socially motivated drinkers significantly decreased their alcohol consumption.

Conclusions

According to the authors of this study, when taking the amounts of alcohol consumed from both tasting sessions together, the actual amounts of alcohol consumed was very highly correlated with the amounts of alcohol reported by the participants in the questionnaire.  In other words, according to these results, motives for drinking allow one to predict the amount of alcohol consumed by an individual in a particular setting.

The authors also stated that those than are motivated by internal reasons (i.e. drinking for enhancement or coping purposes) tend to take advantage of a drinking situation where alcohol is readily available and free.  The authors claim that this may be a result of their desire to attain the psychoactive effects of the alcohol itself in order to “maximize pleasurable sensations” or perhaps more readily forget their personal problems.  To explain the results of externally motivated participants, the authors surmised that they likely drank lower amounts of alcohol because they tend to be inconsistent in their drinking patterns, and perhaps since they did not know the other people in their tasting groups, they were less likely to drink more.

When looking at the tasting sessions individually, the authors noted that drinking motive could not predict the amount of alcohol consumed per session (particularly the first session).  They reason this result to be potentially due to the nature of the experimental design itself.  Perhaps since participants were not familiar with the tasting procedure they were asked to do, the location they were performing the tastings in, or the other participants they were paired up to taste with, they were uncomfortable with the situation and less likely to consume the

By che (che) [CC-BY-SA-2.5 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5)], via Wikimedia Commons

same levels of alcohol they would have consumed if they were in a more comfortable and familiar environment.  This may explain why alcohol consumption increased during the tasting session, since at this point, the participants had a chance to get used to the situation and became more comfortable and familiar with the whole thing.

The authors noted some limitations with the study, including the sample size and the way participants actually felt about the wines they were drinking.  The study only included only 123 college students between the ages of 19 and 24, which is certainly not representative of the general population. Would older participants when placed in the same situations yield similar results? Or would there be significant differences in drinking motivation and alcohol consumption behavior across generations?

In regards to not testing how the participants felt about the wine they were consuming, I feel as though this could potentially have significant consequences on the overall results (or not…I’m not completely certain).  What if a significant proportion of participants don’t drink wine to begin with?  They then may not be consuming the amount of alcohol they normally would be under a given situation due to simply not liking beverage used in the study.  Perhaps they would drink even more if they had been handed fruity mixed drinks instead of red wine.  After all, studied do show that younger individuals drink more of these types of beverages than wine (in general) when compared to their older counterparts.

Overall, the results of this study confirm that self-reported drinking behavior is correlated with the actual amount of alcohol consumed during a wine tasting session.  I would be hesitant to say this with complete confidence, mainly based on the limitations I just discussed in the previous two paragraphs.  I think the results are interesting and certainly a good start, however, I think these limitations would need to be addressed before I am completely convinced these results to be accurate and reflective upon the general population.

What did you all think of this study? What would you like to have seen differently? Maybe I’m being too harsh regarding the limitations: do you think these limitations are insignificant to the results? Please feel free to comment!

Source: Kuntsche, E., and Kuendig, H. 2012. Beyond Self Reports: Drinking Motives Predict Grams of Consumed Alcohol in Wine-Tasting Sessions. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology 20(4): 318-324.

Posted in Psychology

Tagged , , , , ,

Wine Technology of the Future: Wine Storage and Preservation Device

Posted on December 7, 2012 by Becca| 4 Comments

 

“Wine Technology of the Future” is a series on The Academic Wino that features new inventions and patents that attempt to make your wine experience easier and more enjoyable. Previously on this series, we’ve introduced the “self aerating wine bottle” and the “corkscrew with integral intelligent thermometer”. For today’s featured patent, we introduce to you the “wine storage and preservation device”, invented by Gregory H. Lambrecht of Natick, Massachusetts, which claims to be able to remove wine from the bottle without removing the cork.

Figure 1 from US Patent 20120241476A1

In a sentence, this device was invented to aid in the dispensing and the preservation of wine. In other words, the device was designed to be able to 1) remove wine from the bottle without removing the cork; 2) allow repeated removal of wine from the bottle without damaging the cork so much that air can infiltrate and oxidize the wine; and 3) allow no air to enter into the wine during the removal process.

Why was this device invented?

It’s apparent that the device was invented in order to be able to taste wine from a bottle for a longer period of time without worry of it being oxidized or otherwise “going bad”. When you pop the cork, there is a huge influx of oxygen, which starts the rapid life-ending process for the wine. You can put the cork back inside the bottle, however, there remains a significant amount of oxygen in the bottle that will continue to cause damage to the wine until it’s too oxidized to drink and enjoy. There are many devices now that remove the oxygen from the bottle prior to re-corking, however, these devices usually get only a couple of extra days of life out of the bottle at best. Theoretically, if this device functions as the inventor said it does, then there should be no more extra air entering the bottle of wine than would had it never been touched at all, and therefore a significantly decreased risk of oxidation after dispensing the wine.

If this device works as it should in theory, I think it could be a great gadget for a variety of individuals. First, it’d be great for those that drink wine on rare occasions and don’t want to waste ¾ of a bottle that is left after their one glass. They could then milk the rest of the bottle for as long as they wanted and they could get their next glass at any point in the future and be confident that the wine will still taste good (side note: of course, this depends on the shelf life of the wine to begin with).

This device could also be great for someone who tastes a lot of wine for a living (or for fun, as is the case with many wine bloggers). Maybe you want to see how a particular wine pairs with 6 different types of food but you don’t want to have those vastly different flavors mucking up your palate by being forced to taste them all at one sitting. This device would allow you to plan many dishes over a longer period of time (and perhaps just one dish per night) and utilize the same bottle of wine without having to get multiple samples or risk having the wine change significantly after opening.

Maybe you’re curious how that very special (and very expensive) bottle of wine you have hiding under lock and key in your cellar is developing, but you don’t want to risk opening it prematurely and missing out on its’ full glory. Theoretically, with this device, you could take a little taste from the bottle without introducing any oxygen to the wine in order for you to know for sure if the wine is ready to be enjoyed now, or if it still needs to sit for some time.

How does it work?

As you can see from the figures, the device is relatively complicated, yet small enough to fit on the neck of the bottle. The device features three main components: 1) a needle; 2) a valve; and 3) a source of pressurized gas.

• Basically, the needle is inserted into the bottle between the cork and the wall of the bottle until the needle reaches completely past the cork.
• The bottle is then tilted so that the wine comes in contact with the end of the needle. At this point, you open the valve to the pressurized gas chamber, and gas enters the bottle of wine. It should be noted that this would need to be inert gas, such that no harmful chemical reactions between the gas and the wine could occur.

Figure 3D from US Patent 20120241476A1

• After there is sufficient gas inside the bottle, the valve is switched to an “off” position so that no more gas enters the bottle.
• At this point, the pressure inside the bottle has been built up, such that the wine is forced out through the needle into a collection chamber on the other end (i.e. your glass!).

Figure 3E from US Patent 20120241476A1

• Finally, once you’ve removed the amount of wine that you want, the bottle is tipped back so that the end of the needle is no longer touching the wine, and the extra gas that was pumped in is forced back out of the bottle through the needle and equilibrates to the original gas pressure level as was prior to using the device.

Figure 3F from US Patent 20120241476A1

• Once the needle is removed, the cork would simply expand back to its original position inside the bottle due to the plasticity of the material.

The inventor illustrates many variations on each of the main components of the device, and explains advantages of each variation. We could be here for days if I described them all, so I encourage you to check out the patent and read some of the more detailed descriptions of the function of the device.

As long as it’s not too complicated to use, and features automatic shut-offs and switches for the gas (to avoid someone not paying attention and blowing their wine clear across the room), I think it could be a useful device. I would not use it for daily personal consumption, as my boyfriend and I have no problems finishing a bottle of wine long before it goes bad. I would potentially use it for testing the wines that I am laying down for some time, to check their progress and to determine if I needed to open them soon or if I could let them lay for longer.

There might be some aesthetic changes that would need to be made (i.e. perhaps enclose the components so it looks more streamlined and is less likely to be damaged), as well as some sort of mechanism for protecting the user against the sharp needle.

I’d love to hear what you all this about this device. Do you think it has promise? What tweaking would you want to see done on the device before it was made available to the public? What would you name it? Please leave your comments!

Source: United States Patent Application Pub No.: US 2012/0241476 A1 http://www.freepatentsonline.com/20120241476.pdf Accessed 11/10/2012 and 12/6/2012

Posted in Technology

Tagged , , , ,

Does Wine Consumption Improve Your Chance of Having More Teeth in Old Age?

Posted on February 7, 2012 by Becca| Leave a comment

By this point, it is well known that wine (particularly red wine) is associated with many health benefits, including a lower risk of cardiovascular disease, lower risk of obesity, and potentially increased neural function after spinal cord injury.  In regards to oral health, studies have shown that alcohol consumption is a serious risk factor for oral cancer, and that heavy drinkers tend to have poorer oral health than light to moderate drinkers.  Poor oral health in the case of heavy drinkers is often confounded with other factors, such as lifestyle choices involving poor dental habits and poor diets, so teasing out cause and effect in cases such as these can be difficult.

http://www.dreamstime.com/
teeth-on-wine-glass-thumb4249399.jpg

Alcohol can erode teeth due to the high acidity of some alcoholic beverages, particularly wine which tends to have a relatively low pH.  However, studies regarding alcohol consumption and the number of teeth in an individual are few and far between, and those studies that do exist are quite contradictory.  For example, some studies have found that alcohol consumption is linked with fewer teeth, while other studies have found the opposite, in that those that consume alcohol are less likely to lose their teeth than nondrinkers. 

In regards to age, studies have found that those older individuals consuming alcohol on a regular basis is increasing.  Older individuals tend to be more at risk for certain health concerns than younger individuals, particularly when it comes to the effects of alcohol consumption.  As mentioned previously, many studies have found positive health effects links between wine consumption and health in humans.  It may therefore by assumed that perhaps if other health concerns are being assuaged, then consuming wine may also have positive health benefits on oral health.

The study presented today examined the associations between alcohol consumption and oral health in older adults, and whether the number of teeth was associated with weekly alcohol consumption (while including the type of alcohol).  Due to some limitations of this study, the results may be up for debate, and I encourage you to read the methods and results for yourself, and let us know what you think.

Methods

Participants of this study were participants in the Copenhagen City Heart Study, with consists of an adult population living in Østerbro, near central Copenhagen, Denmark.  For the heart study, participants were examined four times in 27 years, and had completed a questionnaire regarding medical history, socioeconomic status, and lifestyle habits.  Participants also underwent a physical examination.  The oral health study presented today took place in March 2004 and August 2005 at the School of Dentistry at the University of Copenhagen.  Of the possible candidates a total of 783 people participated in the oral health study, with the ages of participants ranging from 65-95 years.

Participants and those in the heart study that chose not to participate were compared in regards to lifestyle, education, and income.

Participants completed a questionnaire on lifestyle habits (including alcohol consumption, smoking, and physical activity), dental habits, how they perceive their own health, functional ability, and social relationships.

Oral examinations were performed by the same dentist, and the numbers of remaining teeth (including third molars) for each participant were counted.

Dental status for participants was expressed as the number of remaining teeth in two groups: greater than or equal to 20 (higher number of teeth), or less than 20 (low number of teeth).  Covariates that were taken into account during analysis were: age, gender, education level, household income, marital status, smoking habits, leisure time, physical activity level, medication intake, saliva flow rates, self-rated health status, dental visits, diversity of social relationships, social participation, and functional ability determined using the Mobility-Tiredness Scale.

Results

Study Participants

  •        Comparisons found that nonparticipants (both male and female) had higher proportions of individuals that were older and lower educational levels than participants.
  •       Female nonparticipants had higher proportions of individuals with lower alcohol consumption, sedentary lifestyle, and smokers.
  •       Male and female participants with a low number of teeth were older and tended to have lower socioeconomic statuses and unhealthy lifestyles when compared to participants with high numbers of teeth.
  •       Participants with a low number of teeth tended to visit the dentist less than once per year, and took more than four types of medications thank participants with high numbers of teeth.
  •       Female participants with lower numbers of teeth tended to have lower weekly alcohol intake (or no intake at all).
  •       Male participants with lower numbers of teeth tended to report themselves as having poor/fair health than males with higher numbers of teeth.
  •       The average number of drinks per week for heavy drinkers was 38 for males, and 22 for females.

Alcohol Consumption VS Number of Teeth

  •       Female participants who consumed moderate amounts of alcohol had a lower chance of having fewer teeth compared to those who did not drink.

o   Females who were heavy drinkers had an even lower chance of having fewer teeth.

  •       There was no relationship between total weekly alcohol consumption and number of teeth for male participants.
  •       Female wine drinkers who consumed more than 6 glasses per week had a lower chance of having fewer teeth than those consuming less or none at all.
  •       There was no relationship between total weekly wine, beer, or spirit consumption and number of teeth for males, though males who consumed more than 6 beers per week had marginally significant lower chances of having fewer teeth.
  •       Men who preferred to drink beer had a lower chance of having fewer teeth than those who did not drink.
  •       Women who preferred to drink wine (or spirits) had a lower chance of having fewer teeth than those who did not drink.
  •       There were no relationships found between smoking and alcohol consumption when considering weekly alcohol intake, or the type of alcohol.

Authors’ Summary

According to the authors of this study, the first important result was that women who consumed more alcohol were more likely to have greater numbers of teeth than those who did not drink.  A similar trend was noted for men; however, the results were not significant.  The second important result of this study was that women who drank more than 6 glasses of wine per week a lower risk of having fewer teeth than those who did not drink.

Since studies have shown that wine consumption is tightly correlated with higher socioeconomic status and healthier lifestyles, the authors attempted to control for these factors by using them as covariates in their analysis.  After doing so, the results remained the same, in that women who consumed 6 glasses or more of wine per week had a lower chance of having fewer numbers of teeth than those who do not drink. 

According to the authors, it’s possible that even though it has been shown that alcohol can erode teeth, the other components in the beverages (other than ethanol) may be playing a more protective role than the ethanol is damaging.  For example, one study found that wine consumption was associated with lower microbial plaque deposition and lower concentrations of oral bacteria.  The same study interpreted this results as indicating that some components of the wine may be preventing the adhesion of the oral bacteria on the teeth.

The last important finding, as indicated by the authors of this study, was that women who preferred to drink wine had a lower risk of having fewer teeth than women who preferred to drink beer or mixed preferences.  The authors attributed this to perhaps a healthier dietary choice made by wine drinkers; however, those data were not available to determine this for certain.

Limitations and musings….

The authors of the study addressed several limitations to this study, which I feel really muddle the results found, and renders me curious whether or not these results could actually be replicated under a better designed experiment.  First, out of all of the possible participants from the initial list of heart study participants, only 40% of them participated in the oral study.  Since studies have shown that nonparticipation is linked to lower socioeconomic status and poorer health, there is a huge potential for selection bias (the participant pool does not represent a randomly selected pool of adults).

Another limitation is that the heart study where the participants were selected from was not designed for this type of oral study.  There was no information regarding past dental history, since that was not the intent of the heart study, and therefore there was no way of knowing when the tooth loss occurred in individual participants or their dental habits.

In regards to strengths, the authors site a large sample size, and the wealth of information that allowed them to control for many covariates, however, in my opinion, I do not think this justifies choosing from a pool of individuals where no dental health history is known.  If you’re going to perform an oral health study, shouldn’t one have an understanding of the dental history of the participants?   All of these limitations mean that the results of the study may only apply to the specific pool of individual participants in the study, and may not be generalized to other groups or the older adult population as a whole.

Overall, I didn’t agree with the methods employed for choosing study participants, and would like to see a study performed where participants are specifically chosen for this type of study, and not simply picked from a pool already available from an unrelated study. 

What do you all think about this? What improvements on the study would you like to see performed?  Please feel free to leave your comments below by clicking on the “comment” link at the end of this post.

Source: Heegaard, K., Avlund, K., Holm-Pedersen, P., Hvidtfeldt, U.A., Bardow, A., and Grønbæk, M. 2011. Amount and type of alcohol consumption and missing teeth among community-dwelling older adults: findings from the Copenhagen Oral Health Senior study. Journal of Public Health Dentistry 71: 318-326.

DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-7325.2011.00276.x

I am not a health professional, nor do I pretend to be. Please consult your doctor before altering your alcohol consumption habits. Do not consume alcohol if you are under the age of 21. Do not drink and drive. Enjoy responsibly!

Posted in Health

Tagged , , , , ,