Relationship between alcohol consumption and serum lipid levels in elderly Korean men

We evaluated the association between alcohol consumption and blood lipid levels in elderly Korean men. This was a cross-sectional study consisting of men (n=1893) aged 60 years and older from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) 2005-2009. Demographic characteristics and dietary intake were obtained from the participants using a questionnaire, and lipid levels were determined by blood-sample analyses. After adjusting for demographic and dietary factors, alcohol consumption was negatively associated with a risk for low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) (p for trend<0.001), whereas the risk for high triglycerides increased with increasing alcohol consumption (p for trend=0.014). However, the odds ratios (ORs) of high non-HDL-C and the ratio of high triglycerides to HDL-C were not significantly different with alcohol drinking. These results suggest that light consumption of alcohol decreases the risk for dyslipidemia and that heavy alcohol consumption differentially affects lipid measures according to the amount of alcohol intake in elderly men.