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  • Original Article
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An inverse association between serum leptin concentration and reported alcohol intake in patients with manifest vascular disease

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 64, pages 1350–1357 (2010)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background/Objectives:

It has been reported that alcohol stimulates appetite. We aimed to establish the association between leptin, as a major food intake regulating factor, and alcohol intake in patients with chronic manifest coronary artery or cerebrovascular disease.

Subjects/Methods:

A cross-sectional study of 820 subjects after acute coronary syndrome, coronary revascularization or after first ischemic stroke (the Czech part of EUROASPIRE III surveys). Leptin concentrations were evaluated among predefined categories of reported weekly alcohol intake: abstainers, light drinkers (up to 2 drinks weekly, 1–44 g of pure alcohol), mild regular drinkers (3–14 drinks weekly, 45–308 g) and moderate or heavy drinkers (more than 15 drinks, ⩾309 g of alcohol).

Results:

Leptin showed a clear negative trend among the alcohol intake categories. Mild regular drinkers showed significantly lower leptin levels (9.3(8.2) ng/ml) compared with abstainers (18.7(18.7) ng/ml, P<0.0001) and light occasional drinkers (14.2(17.8) ng/ml, P=0.00064). The negative association between leptin and alcohol intake as a dependent variable remained significant even after adjustment for potential confounders in multiple linear regression analysis (P=0.00032).

Conclusions:

Drinking of small amounts of alcohol was, in our setting, associated with decreased serum leptin concentration, with a possible benefit in terms of cardiovascular risk.

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Acknowledgements

This study was funded by the Internal Grant Agency of the Czech Ministry of Health (Grant no. 9333–3) and by the Ministry of Education (Grant no. 0021620819). We also used several data from EUROASPIRE III and EUROASPIRE III-stroke surveys; we acknowledge the cooperation of all investigators who participated in the EUROASPIRE surveys in the Czech Republic. Source of funding: Internal Grant Agency, Ministry of Health of Czech Republic (IGA 9333–3).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. 2nd Department of Internal Medicine, Charles University, Medical Faculty, Pilsen, Czech Republic

    O Mayer Jr, J Filipovský, M Galovcová, J Hrbková & J Šimon

  2. Department of Preventive Cardiology, Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Prague, Czech Republic

    J Bruthans & R Cífková

  3. Department of Immunodiagnostics, University Hospital, Pilsen, Czech Republic

    J Vrzalová

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  1. O Mayer Jr
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  2. J Filipovský
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  3. M Galovcová
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  4. J Bruthans
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  5. J Hrbková
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  6. J Vrzalová
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  8. J Šimon
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Correspondence to O Mayer Jr.

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Conference of International Society of Atherosclerosis, Boston, 2009

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Mayer, O., Filipovský, J., Galovcová, M. et al. An inverse association between serum leptin concentration and reported alcohol intake in patients with manifest vascular disease. Eur J Clin Nutr 64, 1350–1357 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2010.153

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