Protective effect of alcohol consumption for fatty liver but not metabolic syndrome

Table 6 Positive prevalence of parameters for four levels of alcohol consumption n (%)

	Non or minimal	Light	Moderate	Excess	Non or minimal vs light	Light vs moderate	Moderate vs excess
Men
Fatty liver	2248 (36.5)	457 (26.4)	449 (27.8)	424 (28.7)	< 0.001	< 0.001	< 0.001
MS defined by rATP III	1282 (20.8)	331 (19.1)	317 (19.6)	373 (25.2)	0.12	0.33	< 0.001
MS defined by IDF	668 (10.9)	165 (9.5)	143 (8.8)	182 (12.3)	0.12	0.04	0.15
Fatty liver among men with MS defined by rATP III	923 (72)	204 (61.6)	188 (59.3)	206 (55.2)	< 0.001	< 0.001	< 0.001
Fatty liver among men with MS defined by IDF	568 (85)	118 (71.5)	100 (69.9)	127 (69.8)	< 0.001	< 0.001	< 0.001
MS defined by rATP III among men with fatty liver	923 (41.1)	204 (44.6)	188 (41.9)	206 (48.6)	0.17	0.79	0.005
MS defined by IDF among men with fatty liver	568 (25.3)	118 (25.8)	100 (22.3)	127 (30)	0.85	0.22	0.058
Components of MS
High waist circumference	968 (15.7)	257 (14.8)	236 (14.6)	257 (17.4)	0.38	0.32	0.15
High blood pressure	1766 (28.7)	591 (34.1)	626 (38.7)	707 (47.8)	< 0.001	< 0.001	< 0.001
High fasting plasma glucose	2332 (37.9)	681 (39.3)	749 (46.3)	729 (49.3)	0.31	< 0.001	< 0.001
Low HDL-C	2133 (34.7)	425 (24.5)	333 (20.6)	284 (19.2)	< 0.001	< 0.001	< 0.001
High triglycerides	1385 (22.5)	360 (20.8)	394 (24.4)	459 (31.1)	0.13	0.14	< 0.001
High BMI (> 25 kg/m2)	1731 (28.1)	417 (24)	388 (24)	379 (25.6)	< 0.001	< 0.001	0.07
Smoking status
Current smoker	2012 (32.7)	602 (34.7)	657 (40.7)	740 (50.1)	0.12	< 0.001	< 0.001
Never smoker	2220 (36.1)	446 (25.7)	308 (19.1)	180 (12.2)	< 0.001	< 0.001	< 0.001
Ex smoker	3933 (63.9)	1288 (74.3)	1308 (80.9)	1298 (87.8)	< 0.001	< 0.001	< 0.001
Usage of drugs	938 (15.2)	249 (14.4)	307 (19)	326 (22.1)	0.38	0.00	0.00
Regular exerciser	1096 (17.9)	361 (20.9)	326 (20.3)	272 (18.5)	0.01	0.04	0.64
Wine consumer	45 (0.7)	18 (1)	17 (1.1)	14 (0.9)	0.26	0.30	0.52
Women
Fatty liver	719 (10.5)	22 (5.4)	9 (4.3)	7 (8.3)	< 0.001	0.01	0.65
MS defined by rATP III	632 (9.2)	19 (4.7)	17 (8.2)	6 (7.1)	< 0.001	0.73	0.65
MS defined by IDF	494 (7.2)	12 (3)	10 (4.8)	6 (7.1)	< 0.001	0.25	0.84
Fatty liver among women with MS defined by rATP III	322 (50.9)	4 (21.1)	3 (17.6)	2 (33.3)	0.020	0.013	0.65
Fatty liver among women with MS defined by IDF	284 (57.5)	3 (25)	3 (30)	2 (33.3)	0.051	0.16	0.44
MS defined by rATP III among women with fatty liver	322 (44.8)	4 (18.2)	3 (33.3)	2 (28.6)	0.024	0.73	0.63
MS defined by IDF among women with fatty liver	284 (39.5)	3 (13.6)	3 (33.3)	2 (28.6)	0.026	0.97	0.84
Components of MS
High waist circumference	1257 (18.2)	61 (15)	26 (12.6)	16 (19)	0.12	0.05	0.96
High blood pressure	1026 (14.9)	65 (16)	45 (21.7)	22 (26.2)	0.58	0.01	0.01
High fasting plasma glucose	906 (13.1)	70 (17.2)	33 (15.9)	19 (22.6)	0.02	0.29	0.02
Low HDL-C	1772 (25.7)	58 (14.3)	25 (12.1)	10 (11.9)	< 0.001	< 0.001	0.01
High triglycerides	507 (7.4)	12 (3)	18 (8.7)	6 (7.1)	0.00	0.56	0.89
High BMI (> 25 kg/m2)	792 (11.5)	30 (7.4)	14 (6.8)	9 (10.7)	0.01	0.05	0.96
Smoking status
Current smoker	372 (5.4)	50 (12.3)	57 (27.5)	25 (29.8)	< 0.001	< 0.001	< 0.001
Never smoker	6086 (88.3)	291 (71.7)	106 (51.2)	37 (44)	< 0.001	< 0.001	< 0.001
Ex smoker	804 (11.7)	115 (28.3)	101 (48.8)	47 (56)	< 0.001	< 0.001	< 0.001
Usage of drugs	575 (8.3)	36 (8.9)	22 (10.6)	6 (7.2)	0.78	0.30	0.87
Regular exerciser	1179 (17.2)	82 (20.3)	34 (16.7)	19 (22.6)	0.13	0.91	0.25
Wine consumer	140 (2)	30 (7.4)	17 (8.2)	11 (13.1)	< 0.001	< 0.001	< 0.001

This table indicates the positive prevalence of parameters for four levels of alcohol consumption: non or minimal, < 40 g/wk; light, 40–140 g/wk; moderate, 140–280 g/wk; and excess, > 280 g/wk. Two groups of subjects were compared by using the unpaired t test and χ² test. The significance of differences between two side-by-side groups among the four groups was determined by two-tailed, multiple χ² tests with Bonferroni correction (P < 0.016 for three comparisons in four groups). Smoking status was also categorized into three groups; never smoker, ex smoker and current smoker. Regular exercisers were defined as participants who performed any kind of sports at least once a week. Usage of drugs was defined as participants who receive any drugs that potentially affected metabolic syndrome (MS). HDL-c: High-density lipoprotein-cholesterol; rATP III: Revised National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III; IDF: International Diabetes Federation; BMI: Body mass index.