May 6, 2015

expert reaction to abstract of research on wine intake and type 2 diabetes

The association between red or white wine intake and the metabolic profiles of those with type 2 diabetes is the subject of a presentation given at the European Congress on Obesity in Prague, with the scientists involved in the presentation reporting that in patients with type 2 diabetes, moderate wine intake as part of a healthy diet could improve markers of metabolic function such as levels of “good” (HDL) cholesterol.

Prof. Tom Sanders, Professor emeritus of Nutrition and Dietetics, King’s College London, said:

“Alcohol intake is well known to increase high density lipoprotein (HDL) concentrations, as is reported in this abstract. However, there is a lack of evidence to show that increasing HDL concentration translates into reduced risk of cardiovascular disease or other disease outcomes. The abstract also reported that slow metabolisers of alcohol had better control of their blood sugar. However, they would have had higher levels of acetaldehyde in their blood, which is a potentially harmful substance that also causes facial flushing. Previous studies have shown that individuals carrying this gene that cause slower rates of alcohol metabolism are less tolerant of alcohol but do show that light drinkers who carry the gene are at reduced risk of cardiovascular diseases (BMJ 2014;349:g4164).

“The participants consumed one 150 ml glass of wine daily, equivalent to 21 units of alcohol per week (upper recommended limits are 21 and 14 units/week for men and women). While intakes at this level may not be harmful, higher intakes certainly increase blood pressure and risk of all-cause mortality, and even low intakes increase risk of cancer especially of the liver and upper digestive tract.  In my experience any health claims made for red wine need to be regarded with a jaundiced eye!”

Conference presentation: ‘What is the effect of wine intake in type 2 diabetes and does the wine color matter? A 2-year randomized controlled trial’ by Shai I et al. is a conference presentation (not published research) presented at the European Congress on Obesity in Prague. This is under embargo until 23:01 UK time on Wednesday 6 May 2015.

Abstract: http://easo.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/ECO2015THURSPRESSABSTRACTS.pdf

Declared interests

Prof. Tom Sanders is a Scientific Governor of the charity British Nutrition Foundation, member of the scientific advisory committee of the Natural Hydration Council, and honorary Nutritional Director of the charity HEART UK. Prof. Tom Sanders is now emeritus but when he was doing research at King’ College London, the following applied: Tom does not hold any grants or have any consultancies with companies involved in the production or marketing of sugar-sweetened drinks. In reference to previous funding to Tom’s institution: £4.5 million was donated to King’s College London by Tate & Lyle in 2006; this funding finished in 2011. This money was given to the College and was in recognition of the discovery of the artificial sweetener sucralose by Prof Hough at the Queen Elizabeth College (QEC), which merged with King’s College London. The Tate & Lyle grant paid for the Clinical Research Centre at St Thomas’ that is run by the Guy’s & St Thomas’ Trust, it was not used to fund research on sugar. Tate & Lyle sold their sugar interests to American Sugar so the brand Tate & Lyle still exists but it is no longer linked to the company Tate & Lyle PLC, which gave the money to King’s College London in 2006.