I believe the correlation between alcohol intake and body weight is a myth



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送交者: xj 于 2006-3-20, 12:05:03:

回答: 大卡的定义是把一公斤水加热一度所需的能量。 由 Latino2 于 2006-3-20, 11:37:06:

The correlation between alcohol intake and body weight remains obscure for a long time. There are three possible mechanisms hindering our knowledge on this issue.

First, what's the relationship between alcohol intake and subsequent or cocurrent food intake? It is possible that people eat more when they drink alcohol, or vice versa. In the western society, many people drink alcohol before eating main course of foods. Studies have shown that alcohol may increase the amount of food intake, but again, the oppositing evidence also exist. My personal experience is that I can't eat a usual amount of foods when I drink (even just one cup), but I found it disturbing when drinking alone, I tend to eat lots of junk snack--which is energy too.

Second, what's biological value of alcohol intake? We all know that alcohol energy is one type of "empty energy" which means pure energy without other nutrition value (like pure sugar). However, we all experience (and indeed biologically proved) that alcohol intake will increase oxidation in our body, FOr example, thermogenesis(heat:-)), perspiration, urination, and fuzzy mind. Strictly speaking, human body spend more energy after alcohol intake. In a sense, alcohol is one of the most efficient energy stimulants human can find.

Third, how does alcohol intake relate to other lifestyle/personal behavior? It is well known that heavy alcohol drinking positively correlates with smoking, and smoking is related to lower body weight. Further, what about physcial activity? food patterns/composition? Do people eat more animal products when drinking alcohol than those don't?

One should be cautious when reading and interpreting current health literature. It is very common to see statements like this "drinking alcohol is not related to body weight", or "three cups of milk a day reduces your weight." Common people tend to ignore the fact that most studies employ multivariate models to obtain the claimed odds ratio or relative risk ratio. In the model, how people adjust the model is very important. In alcohol studies, alcohol intake was often adjusted for total energy intake. Thus, the interpretation for a "null alcohol effect" should be "given the same amount of energy intake, there is no additional alcohol effect on body weight." By saying this, it is very reasonable to ask "what's the relationship between alcohol intake and energy intake?" and so are those energy intake and alcohol studies.





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