Prospective study of alcohol consumption patterns in relation to symptomatic gallstone disease in men

Although the association between alcohol intake and gallstone disease has b een characterized previously, the relation between alcohol consumption patt erns, specific types of alcoholic beverages, and risk for cholelithiasis ha s not been addressed systematically. These issues were examined prospective ly in a cohort of men who were free from symptomatic gallstone disease in 1 986 and were followed to 1996. During follow-up, 2.4% of the men reported n ewly symptomatic gallstones that were diagnosed by ultrasonography or x-ray , or a cholecystectomy. After adjusting for other known or suspected risk factors, an increase in t he amount of alcohol consumed was associated with a decreased risk of sympt omatic gallstone disease. An increase in frequency of alcohol consumption a lso was related to decreased risk. Combining the reports of quantity and fr equency of alcohol intake, a consumption pattern that reflected frequent in take (5-7 days/week) of any given amount of alcohol was associated with a d ecreased risk, as compared with nondrinkers. In contrast, infrequent alcoho l intake (1-2 days/week) showed no significant association with risk. All a lcoholic beverage types were inversely associated with risk of symptomatic gallstone disease, independent of patterns of consumption. These results suggest that frequent, moderate intake of alcohol decreases t he risk for symptomatic gallstone disease, in contrast to infrequent or epi sodic alcohol intake. Recommendations regarding the benefit of moderate qua ntities of alcohol for gallstone disease should be weighed against the pote ntial health hazards of alcohol consumption.