Heavy drinking in old age can increase the waist length by four cm and also increase the risk of stroke, according to a recent study published in journal Addiction.
The study looked into heavy drinking and a range of health indicators such as cardiovascular disease.
The researchers collected data from “Whitehall II” cohort. This is a collection of information from UK civil servants aged 34 to 56 years. In the final study, 4,820 older adults aged between 59 and 83 years were chosen. Seventy five percent were male and the average age was 69.
Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test for Consumption was used for detecting heavy users. The test was done using three simple questions related to consumption. The questions were — How often one drinks?, how much one drinks and how often one has six or more drinks? All the participants were asked to inform these according to the years of their growth.
In the evaluation, it was found that most of the people analysed were hazardous drinkers at some point in their life. Twenty one percent was found to be at present hazardous drinkers. Five per cent were consistent hazardous drinkers.
The study found that early hazardous drinkers had a 1.17 cm larger waist than never hazardous drinkers. It was found that former hazardous drinkers, present hazardous drinkers and consistent hazardous drinkers had a larger waist circumference of 1.88 cm, 2.44 cm and 3.85cm.
The study was conducted by researchers at University College London. The results showed that excessive alcohol consumption over a lifetime was associated with high blood pressure, poor liver function and increased stroke risk. It also led to larger waistline in later life. They said that it was a risk even If one stopped drinking before 50 years.
