Table 1.

Characteristics of 20 cohort studies included in the analyses

First author (year of publication)	Location	Sex	Age at baseline (years)	n	Follow-up		Alcohol consumption		Diabetes definition	Adjustments
					Duration (years)	Events (no.)	No. categories	Description
Ajani (2000)	U.S.	Men	40–85	20,951	12.7	766	6	No. of drinks: rarely/never, 1–3/month, 1/week, 2–4/week, 5–6/week, or ≥1/day	Self-report (physician participants)	Age, BMI, treatment assignment, smoking status, and physical activity
Beulens (2005)	The Netherlands	Women	49–70	16,330	6.2	760	7	g/week: teetotaler, 0–4.9, 5–29.9, 30–69.9, 70–139.9, 140–209.9, or ≥210	Self-report and/or urinary glucose strip and/or Dutch register of hospital discharge diagnosis	Age and BMI
Carlsson (2003)	Finland	Men	Not reported	10,970	19.4	277	4	g/day: abstainers, <5.0, 5.0–29.9, or ≥30.0	Linkage to Finnish national hospital discharge register and national drug register; patients who received only oral medication, dietary therapy, or insulin as an adjuvant treatment to hypoglycemic drugs were categorized as type 2 diabetic	Age and BMI
		Women	Not reported	11,808	19.8	297	4	g/day: abstainers, <5.0, 5.0–19.9, or ≥20.0
Conigrave (2001)	U.S.	Men	40–75	46,892	10.9	1,571	7	g/day: 0, 0.1–4.9, 5.0–9.9, 10.0–14.9, 15.0–29.9, 30.0–49.9, or ≥50.0	Self-report; criteria: any of 1) one or more classic symptoms with FPG ≥7.8 mmol/l, nonfasting glucose ≥11.1 mmol/l, or OGTT ≥11.1 mmol/l, 2) elevated plasma glucose levels on two different occasions, 3) hypoglycemia treatment (but not type 1 diabetic)	Age and BMI
de Vegt (2002)	The Netherlands	Men and women combined	50–75	1,322	Not reported	241	3	g/day: 0, <10, or ≥10	FPG ≥7.0 mmol/l or OGTT ≥11.1 mmol/l; or subjects already being treated for diabetes	Age and sex
Djoussé (2007)	U.S.	Men	64–95	1,909	6.3	109	4	Drinks/week: never, former, <1, 1–7, or ≥7	Use of insulin or oral hypoglycemic agents; or FPG ≥7.0 mmol	Age, BMI, education, and smoking status
		Women	63–95	2,746	6.3	125	4	Drinks/week: never, former, <1, 1–7, or ≥7
Hodge (2006)	Australia	Men	40–69	12,214	4	179	5	g/day: never drinker, former drinker, <10, 10–20, 20–30, or >30	Participants mailed questionnaire covering diagnosis of diabetes, with verification from primary care physician	Age, BMI, country of birth, dietary glucose intake, dietary energy intake, and waist-to-hip ratio
		Women	40–69	19,208	4	183	4	g/day: never drinker, former drinker, <10, 10–20, or >20
Holbrook (1990)	U.S.	Men	40–79	221	14	31	4	g/week: nondrinker, 0.1–84.3, 84.4–176.0, or ≥176.1	FPG ≥140 mg/dl, OGTT ≥200 mg/dl (11.1 mmol/l), or self-report of diabetes diagnosis by a physician	Age
		Women	40–79	303	14	44	4	g/week: nondrinker, 0.1–41.3, 41.4–117.4, or ≥117.5
Hu (2006)	Finland	Men	35–74	10,188	13.4	517	3	g/week: none, 1–100, or >100	Linkage of info in Finnish national hospital discharge register and national drug register	Age; BMI; study year; education; systolic blood pressure; bread, vegetable, fruit, sausage, coffee, and tea consumption; smoking status; and physical activity
		Women	35–74	11,197	13.4	447	3	g/week: none, 1–100, or >100
Kao (2001)	U.S.	Men	45–64	5,423	5.3	547	6	Drinks/week: lifetime abstainer, former drinker, ≤1, 1.1–7, 7.1–14, 14.1–21, or ≥21	Any of 1) FPG ≥7.0 mmol, 2) nonfasting glucose ≥11.1 mmol, 3) current use of diabetic medications, or 4) positive response to “Has a doctor ever told you that you had diabetes?”	None
		Women	45–64	6,838	5.4	569	6	Drinks/week: lifetime abstainer, former drinker, ≤1, 1.1–7, 7.1–14, 14.1–21, or ≥21
Lee (2003)	Korea	Men	25–55	4,055	4	83	5	g/week: abstainer, 1–90, 91–180, 181–360 g, or >360 g	Serum fasting glucose concentration ≥126 mg/dl or taking diabetes medication	None
Lee (2004)	U.S.	Women	55–69	35,698	11	1,921	3	g/day: 0, 1–14, or ≥15	Self-report	None
Meisinger (2002)	Germany	Men	35–74	3,052	7.5	128	3	g/day: 0, 0.1–39.9, or ≥40.0	Self-report diagnosis or taking antidiabetes medications	Age, BMI, and survey
		Women	35–74	3,114	7.6	85	3	g/day: 0, 0.1–19.9, or ≥20.0
Stampfer (1988)	U.S.	Women	34–59	85,051	4	524	5	g/day: 0, <1.5, 1.5–4.9, 5.0–14.9, or ≥15.0	Self-report by questionnaire, then supplementary questionnaire regarding classic symptoms with FPG ≥140 mg/dl or random plasma glucose ≥200 mg/dl (or at least two elevated plasma glucose levels if no symptoms)	Age, BMI, and caloric intake
Strodl (2006)	Australia	Women	70–74	8,896	3	231	3	Drinks/day: none or rarely, 1–2, or ≥3	Asked whether a doctor had told them they had a diagnosis of diabetes	None
Tsumura (1999)	Japan	Men	35–61	6,362	9.7	456	5	ml/day: abstainer, 0.1–19.0, 19.1–29.0, 29.1–50.0, or ≥50.1	FPG ≥7.8 mmol/l, OGTT ≥11.1 mmol/l, or FPG ≥7.0 mmol/l	Age, BMI, smoking status, leisure time physical activity, parental diabetes, and FPG level
Waki (2004)	Japan	Men	40–59	12,913	Not reported	703	4	g/day: abstainer and infrequent drinker, ≤23.0, 23.1–46.0, or ≥46.1	Self-report “Has a doctor ever told you that you have diabetes?”	Age, BMI, smoking status, family history of diabetes, leisure time physical activity, and hypertension
		Women	40–59	15,980	Not reported	480	4	g/day: abstainer and infrequent drinker, ≤4.9, 5.0–11.5, or ≥11.6
Wannamethee (2002)	U.K.	Men	40–59	5,221	16.8	198	5	Units/week: none, <1, 1–15, 15–42, or >42	Diagnosis of diabetes not accepted on basis of self-completed questionnaire unless confirmed in primary care records	Age and BMI
Wannamethee (2003)	U.S.	Women	25–42	109,705	8.1	935	5	g/day: lifelong abstainer, former drinker, <5.0, 5.0–14.9, 15.0–29.9, or ≥30.0	Report on biennial questionnaire, then supplementary questionnaire regarding symptoms: before 1997 1) ≥1 classic symptoms and FPG ≥7.8 mmol/l or random plasma glucose ≥11.1 mmol/l, 2) ≥2 elevated plasma glucose results on different occasions (FPG ≥7.8 mmol/l, random plasma glucose ≥11.1 mmol/l, and/or OGTT ≥11.1 mmol/l in absence of symptoms), or 3) treatment with hypoglycemia medications	Age
Wei (2000)	U.S.	Men	30–79	8,633	6	149	5	g/week: abstainer, 1–61.8, 61.9–122.7, 122.8–276.6, or >276.6	FPG ≥7.0 mmol/l or history of diabetes plus current insulin therapy	Age, parental diabetes, and years of follow-up