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Objective: Serum lipids, blood pressure and body mass may mediate the U-shaped relationship of alcohol consumption with type 2 diabetes mellitus and coronary heart disease. This study examines the cross-sectional and long-term longitudinal relationships of (changes in) alcohol consumption with (changes in) serum lipids, blood pressure and body mass indices. Method: In this prospective, observational cohort study, two measurements of alcohol consumption, serum total and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides, blood pressure, body weight, the thickness of four skinfolds and waist circumference were performed 4 years apart in healthy volunteers (143 men and 174 women, 32 years old at the first measurement). Alcohol consumption from beer, wine and distilled spirits was assessed using an extensive dietary history interview. Linear regression analyses were performed to study the cross-sectional relationships between the amount of alcohol consumed at the age of 32 years and the levels of the lipids, blood pressure and body weight indices, and to study the longitudinal relationships between the changes in the amount of alcohol consumed over the 4 years of follow-up and the concurrent changes in the lipids, blood pressure and body weight indices. Nonlinearity was investigated for the cross-sectional relationships. Results: A 10-g/day difference in alcohol consumption was positively related with a 0.05 mmol/L (1.9 mg/dl) difference in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol in both cross-sectional (p = .004), and longitudinal (p < .0001) analyses. This relationship did not differ for men and women or for the consumption of beer, wine or distilled spirits. Relationships with changes in total cholesterol, triglycerides, systolic, diastolic, and pulse pressure, body weight and the sum of four skinfolds were not significant. A borderline significant inverse longitudinal relationship was found with waist circumference. The other lifestyle behaviors (tobacco smoking, physical activity and dietary habits) were major confounders of most cross-sectional relationships between alcohol and serum lipids, blood pressure and body mass indices. The longitudinal relationships, however, were not confounded by changes in the other lifestyle behaviors. A significant nonlinear relationship was found for systolic blood pressure, in which drinkers of about 30 g/day had the lowest values. Conclusions: Moderate alcohol consumption and moderate long-term changes in alcohol consumption are positively related with the levels and changes in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol in healthy adult men and women. A moderate inverse association between alcohol and waist circumference may be expected. No relationships were found with triglycerides, blood pressure, body weight and the sum of the thickness of four skinfolds. Other lifestyle behaviors confound the cross-sectional, but not the longitudinal, relationships between alcohol consumption and serum lipids, blood pressure and body mass indices. Gender and type of beverage do not modify the relationships between alcohol consumption and these indices., AN OVERWHELMING NUMBER of ecological, case-control and cohort studies have given consistent indications for a U-shaped relationship of alcohol consumption with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) and coronary heart disease [...]

Objective: The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relation between personality characteristics and alcohol consumption. Using a general population of young and generally healthy men and women, the focus was not on alcoholism but on the full scope of alcohol consumption, including abstinence and moderate levels of consumption. Modification of the relation between personality and alcohol consumption by gender, age and type of beverage was investigated. Method: The population consisted of 483 (259 female) subjects from the Amsterdam Growth and Health Longitudinal Study; they were aged 13 to 32 years over the 20-year course of the study, during which span measurements were taken between two and seven times. The longitudinal relation between five subscales of the Dutch Personality Inventory (DPI) and alcohol consumption were assessed with generalized estimating equations. Results: Low prevalence of heavy alcohol consumption was found in this population. Abstinence from alcohol was more common among subjects who scored higher on Social Inadequacy, Rigidity and Self-sufficiency subscales. The amount of alcohol consumed was higher in drinkers who scored low on Rigidity and Social Inadequacy. Gender, age and type of alcoholic beverage modified some of the found relationships (e.g., adult women who scored high on Dominance were more likely to be the firmer wine drinkers). No significant relationships were found between alcohol consumption and the DPI Inadequacy subscale. Conclusions: Alcohol consumption was associated with lower scores on Social Inadequacy, Rigidity and Self-sufficiency. (J Stud. Alcohol 62: 494-500, 2001), THE SEARCH FOR etiologic factors of alcohol use is a rapidly developing scientific research field. Characteristics of personality may play a central role in the development of alcohol use and [...]