BACKGROUND: It has already been established that the consumption of alcoholic beverages increases high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels in dose-response.
METHODS AND RESULTS: A cross-sectional analysis was carried out with 6132 participants of both sexes aged between 35 and 74 years, who were active and retired workers from six Brazilian states. Heavy drinkers were categorized by sex: men > 210 g/week and women > 140 g/week; moderate drinkers: men /=83 mg/dL).
We used binary logistic regression to assess associations between baseline alcohol intake and HDL-C, which were adjusted for sex, age, income, physical activity, kilocalories and body mass index (BMI), and we found an positive association between extremely high HDL-C and the excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages. These participants were mostly women with a high income, lower waist circumference, kilocalorie consumption and also a higher consumption in all categories of alcoholic beverages. CONCLUSION: Excessive alcohol consumption was associated with a higher probability of extremely high HDL-C.
