Table 1. Background characteristics according to alcohol drinking habits in the main studya.
| All (n = 889) |
Nondrinkersb (n = 211) |
Current (n = 678) |
Pc | |
| Age, years | 55.1 (9.0) | 55.8 (9.6) | 54.9 (8.7) | 0.186 |
| Body mass index, kg/m2 | 23.7 (3.1) | 23.7 (3.1) | 23.7 (3.1) | 0.767 |
| Smoking | ||||
| Current smokers, % | 27.8 | 25.6 | 28.5 | 0.147 |
| Former smokers, % | 43.0 | 39.8 | 44.0 | |
| Nonsmokers, % | 29.3 | 34.6 | 27.6 | |
| Diabetes, %d | 4.4 | 4.4 | 4.3 | 0.921 |
| Education (over high school), % | 44.9 | 44.4 | 46.5 | 0.601 |
| Physical activity, MET·hr/day | 14.2 (13.6) | 15.3 (14.2) | 13.9 (13.4) | 0.192 |
| Alcohol consumption, g/day | 25.1 (28.4) | — | 32.9 (28.3) | — |
| Systolic blood pressure, mm Hge | 123.5 (16.0) | 121.6 (16.9) | 124.1 (15.6) | 0.064 |
| Diastolic blood pressure, mm Hge | 77.8 (11.0) | 76.1 (12.1) | 78.4 (10.6) | 0.015 |
| Serum total cholesterol, mg/dL | 205.4 (31.0) | 206.1 (30.8) | 205.2 (31.1) | 0.722 |
| Serum triglycerides, mg/dLf | 128.6 (78.8) | 122.2 (66.7) | 130.6 (82.1) | 0.257 |
| Serum HDL cholesterol, mg/dLf | 59.3 (15.9) | 55.0 (14.4) | 60.7 (16.1) | <0.001 |
| Serum LDL cholesterol, mg/dLg | 121.1 (29.3) | 127.1 (28.3) | 119.3 (29.3) | <0.001 |
| Dietary intakes | ||||
| Energy, kcal/day | 1923 (351) | 1882 (332) | 1936 (356) | 0.053 |
| Saturated fatty acids, g/dayf | 10.7 (2.4) | 10.8 (2.6) | 10.6 (2.3) | 0.382 |
| Polyunsaturated fatty acids, g/day | 12.9 (3.4) | 12.5 (3.5) | 13.0 (3.3) | 0.079 |
| Cholesterol, mg/dayf | 235.1 (70.1) | 226.2 (69.3) | 237.8 (70.2) | 0.018 |
| Dietary fiber, g/day | 9.9 (2.8) | 10.2 (3.1) | 9.9 (2.7) | 0.163 |
| ADH1B (rs1229984) | ||||
| His/His, % | 58.2 | 59.7 | 57.7 | 0.062 |
| His/Arg, % | 36.2 | 37.9 | 35.7 | |
| Arg/Arg, % | 5.6 | 2.4 | 6.6 | |
| His/Arg or Arg/Arg, % | 41.8 | 40.3 | 42.3 | |
| ALDH2 (rs671) | ||||
| Glu/Glu, % | 54.2 | 18.5 | 65.3 | <0.001 |
| Glu/Lys, % | 38.4 | 51.7 | 34.2 | |
| Lys/Lys, % | 7.4 | 29.9 | 0.4 | |
| Glu/Lys or Lys/Lys, % | 45.8 | 81.5 | 34.7 | |
HDL, high-density lipoprotein; LDL, low-density lipoprotein; MET, metabolic equivalent.
aValues represent the means (standard deviation).
bIncludes former drinkers (n = 25).
cDetermined by t-test or chi-square test for comparison between nondrinkers and current drinkers.
dThe presence of diabetes was defined as fasting blood glucose ≥126 mg/dL or hemoglobin A1c ≥6.5% (values of the National Glycohemoglobin Standardization Program).
eParticipants receiving antihypertensive drugs were excluded from the analysis for blood pressure (n = 151).
fStatistically tested for loge-transformed values.
gParticipants with serum triglycerides ≥400 mg/dL were excluded from the analysis for LDL cholesterol (n = 17).