Search

The clinical implications of alcohol consumption have been extensively examined; however, its effects on brain structures in apparently healthy community-dwellers remain unclear. Therefore, we investigated the relationship between alcohol consumption and brain gray matter volume (GMV) in community-dwelling Japanese men using voxel-based morphometry (VBM). We recruited cognitively intact Japanese men, aged 40-79 years, from a population-based cohort in Shiga, Japan. Brain magnetic resonance imaging was performed, on average, 2 years after demographic and medical information was obtained in 2010-2014. A multivariable linear regression analysis of 639 men was conducted to elucidate the relationship between the amount of alcohol consumed and GMV. VBM statistics were analyzed by threshold-free cluster enhancement with a family-wise error rate of <0.05. The results obtained demonstrated that the amount of alcohol consumed was associated with lower GMV. The VBM analysis showed lower GMV within the parahippocampal, entorhinal, cingulate, insular, temporal, and frontal cortices and cerebellum in very heavy drinkers (≥42 ethanol g/day) than in non-drinkers. Furthermore, alcohol consumption was associated with a higher white matter lesion volume. These results suggest subclinical structural changes similar to alcohol-related neurological diseases., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors do not have any conflicts of interest to disclose., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Several studies have reported a J-shaped relationship between alcohol consumption and coronary heart disease (CHD) risk. However, the mechanisms of this relationship remain unclear. This study aimed to evaluate the relationships of alcohol consumption with established CHD risk factors and with macro-/micro-nutrient intake among Japanese people. Participants were 1,090 Japanese men and women aged 40-59 y enrolled in the INTERLIPID study, excluding former drinkers. Based on two 7-d alcohol records, participants were classified as non-drinkers (0 g/wk), light-drinkers (<100 g/wk), moderate-drinkers (100-299 g/wk), or heavy-drinkers (≥300 g/wk). Detailed macro-/micro-nutrient intake was evaluated using four in-depth 24-h dietary recalls and adjusted for total energy intake excluding alcohol. We analyzed the associations of CHD risk factors and nutrient intake with alcohol consumption. Serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and blood pressure were higher and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol was lower among those with higher alcohol consumption. J-shaped relationships with alcohol consumption were observed for the proportion of current smokers, number of cigarettes smoked, and prevalence of hypertension; these risk factors were lowest among light-drinkers. Carbohydrate and total fiber intakes were lower and protein and dietary cholesterol intakes were higher among those with higher alcohol consumption. These associations were similar for men and women. Alcohol consumption was related to nutrient intake as well as established CHD risk factors. Non-drinkers were higher on some CHD risk factors than were light-drinkers. These findings may influence the J-shaped relationship between alcohol consumption and CHD risk.

Although heavy alcohol consumption has been identified as a risk factor for adverse cognitive functioning, it currently remains unclear whether moderate alcohol consumption exerts similar effects. Observational studies previously reported the potential benefits of moderate alcohol consumption on cognition, particularly in the elderly; however, these effects have not yet been demonstrated in Asian populations. The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between alcohol consumption levels and global and domain-specific cognitive functions in cognitively intact elderly Japanese men. Cross-sectional data from the Shiga Epidemiological Study of Subclinical Atherosclerosis (SESSA), an ongoing prospective, population-based study in Shiga, Japan, were used to examine the relationship between alcohol consumption and cognitive function. Men (n = 585) aged ≥65 years provided information on their weekly consumption of alcohol, and the data obtained were used to construct categories of never, ex- (quit before interview), very light (<14 g/day), light (14-23 g/day), moderate (>23-46 g/day), and heavy (>46 g/day) drinkers. Cognitive function was measured using the Cognitive Abilities Screening Instrument (CASI). A fractional logistic regression model adjusted for age, education, body mass index, smoking, exercise, hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidemia showed that the CASI scores for global and domain-specific cognitive functions were not significantly different between all subgroups of current drinkers and never-drinkers. However, the CASI score of ex-drinkers (multivariable adjusted mean CASI score [SD]) was significantly lower than that of never-drinkers in the global [never vs. ex: 90.16 (2.21) vs. 88.26 (2.58)] and abstraction and judgment domain [never vs. ex: 9.48 (0.46) vs. 8.61 (0.57)]). The present results do not suggest any beneficial or adverse relationship between current alcohol consumption levels and cognitive functioning (both global and domain specific) in elderly Japanese men; however, low cognitive function among ex-drinkers warrants future investigations to identify the factors causing drinkers to quit., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors report no disclosures related to the manuscript., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Excessive alcohol intake has been shown to be associated with cardiovascular disease via metabolic pathways. However, the relationship between alcohol intake and obesity has not been fully elucidated. We aimed to examine the association of alcohol consumption with fat deposition and anthropometric measures., Methods: From 2006-2008, we conducted a cross-sectional study in a population-based sample of Japanese men aged 40 through 79 years. Areas of abdominal visceral adipose tissue (VAT) and subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) were calculated using computed tomography imaging. Based on a questionnaire, we classified participants into five groups according to weekly alcohol consumption, excluding former drinkers: non-drinkers (0 g/week), 0.1-160.9, 161-321.9, 322-482.9, and ≥483 g/week. Multivariable linear regression was used to estimate adjusted means of obesity indices for each group., Results: We analyzed 998 men (mean age and body mass index [BMI], 63.8 years and 23.6 kg/m 2 , respectively). Higher weekly alcohol consumption was strongly and significantly associated with higher abdominal VAT area, percentage of VAT, and VAT-to-SAT ratio (all P for trend <0.001), and also with waist circumferences and waist-to-hip ratio (P for trend = 0.042 and 0.007, respectively). These associations remained significant after further adjustment for BMI, whereas alcohol consumption had no significant association with abdominal SAT area., Conclusions: Higher alcohol consumption was associated with higher VAT area, VAT%, and VAT-to-SAT ratio, independent of confounders, including BMI, in general Japanese men. These results suggest that alcohol consumption may have a potential adverse effect on visceral fat deposition.

Background: Recently, high-density lipoprotein particles (HDL-P) have been found to be more strongly inversely associated with coronary artery disease (CAD) risk than their counterpart, HDL cholesterol (HDL-C). Given that lifestyle is among the first targets in CAD prevention, we compared the associations of HDL-P and HDL-C with selected lifestyle factors., Methods and results: We examined 789 Japanese participants of the INTERLIPID Study: men (n=386) and women (n=403) aged 40-59 years in 1996-1998. Participants treated for dyslipidemias were excluded. Lifestyle factors included alcohol intake, smoking amount, and body mass index (BMI). Multivariable linear regression was used for cross-sectional analyses of these factors with HDL-P, HDL-C, HDL-P size subclasses (small, medium and large) and mean HDL-P size. In men, higher alcohol intake was associated with higher HDL-P and higher HDL-C. The associations of alcohol, however, were strongest with HDL-P. A higher smoking amount tended to be associated with lower HDL-P and HDL-C. In contrast, BMI was not associated with HDL-P, but was strongly inversely associated with HDL-C. While alcohol intake favored larger mean HDL-P size, smoking and BMI favored a lipid profile with smaller HDL-P subclasses and overall smaller mean HDL-P size. Similar, but generally weaker results were observed in women., Conclusions: Although both HDL-P and HDL-C are parameters of HDL, they have different associations with alcohol, smoking and BMI.