title: Alcohol Intake and Serum Glucose Levels from the Perspective of a Mendelian Randomization Design: The KCPS-II Biobank.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Previous studies have suggested that alcohol intake is associated with increased fasting serum glucose (FSG), but the nature of the relationship remains unknown. We used Mendelian randomization analysis to assess the causal effect of alcohol intake on FSG in a middle-aged Korean population.
  
  
  METHODS
  Clinical data including FSG and alcohol intake were collected from 156,386 Koreans aged 20 years or older who took part in the Korean Cancer Prevention Study-II (KCPS-II) Biobank Cohort. The single nucleotide polymorphism rs671 in ALDH2 was genotyped among 2,993 men and 1,374 women in 2016. This was a randomly selected subcohort of KCPS-II Biobank participants.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Alcohol consumption was positively associated with FSG level in men, but not in women. The rs671 major G allele was associated with increased alcohol intake (F-statistic = 302.62) and an increase in FSG in men. Using Mendelian randomization analysis, alcohol intake increased FSG by 1.78 mg/dL per alcohol unit (10 g ethanol) per day (95% CI: 0.97-2.59) in men. The associations became stronger when we excluded heavy drinkers and the elderly. However, in women, no significant association between rs671 and alcohol or serum glucose was found.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Using Mendelian randomization analysis, we suggest a causal relationship between alcohol intake and FSG among Korean men. Moreover, we found that the ALDH2 variant rs671 was not associated with FSG among Korean women.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Health Promotion, Graduate School of Public Health, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Yon Ho
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Jee
authors.affiliation: Institute for Health Promotion, Graduate School of Public Health, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Sun Ju
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Institute for Health Promotion, Graduate School of Public Health, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Keum Ji
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4993-0666
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.affiliation: Institute for Health Promotion, Graduate School of Public Health, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea.|Department of Epidemiology and Health Promotion, Graduate School of Public Health, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Sun Ha
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Jee
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000378:metabolism*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D057182:Mendelian Randomization Analysis; D008875:Middle Aged; D056910:Republic of Korea
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose