Eating Habits Linked to Alcohol Consumption Patterns

People who consume the most alcohol when they drink -- regardless of frequency -- have the poorest eating habits, according to a study conducted by researchers with the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and U.S. Department of Agriculture. That finding may speak volumes when it comes to looking at the interaction of drinking, diet and disease, particularly in light of recent studies suggesting an association between moderate alcohol consumption and reduced cardiovascular disease risk.

The researchers analyzed data on drinking behaviors drawn from more than 3,000 participants in the 1999-2000 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to reach their conclusion linking unhealthy alcohol consumption patterns with unhealthy eating habits. The findings were reported in the Feb. 15 American Journal of Epidemiology.

In addition to examining alcohol consumption habits, researchers calculated participants' healthy eating index, or HEI, scores. HEI is a measure created by the Agriculture Department that gauges how closely an individual's diet conforms to the recommended levels of vegetables, fruit, grains, meat and dairy products, as well as their total fat, cholesterol and sodium intake.

Total alcohol consumption was characterized by three variables: quantity consumed on drinking days, frequency of drinking days and average daily volume (determined by multiplying quantity by frequency, divided by 365.25). Not surprisingly, the researchers found that as alcohol quantity increased, HEI scores declined. More unexpected, however, was a finding that as drinking frequency increased, HEI scores rose. Diet quality was worst among those who drank the highest quantities least frequently, and it was best among those who drank the lowest quantities most frequently.

HEI scores were not significantly different across average daily volumes of consumption, suggesting that studying drinking patterns as measured by quantity and frequency -- rather than by average daily volume consumption -- should be considered in future research.