Abstract B56: An exploratory analysis of alcohol consumption and cancer-related dietary risk among low-income African American women in Washington, DC
Authors: Mead Erin L. , Klassen Ann 
Published: June 2012

To ameliorate cancer disparities, closer examination of dietary quality by alcohol consumption patterns may generate a better understanding of nutritional inadequacies and how they can be addressed among low-income populations. The present study was an exploratory analysis of alcohol intake and dietary quality among 156 low-income, African American women living in public housing in Washington, DC, in 2000. At baseline, the study collected up to three 24-hour dietary recalls on nonconsecutive days for each participant, as well as a questionnaire on demographic, socioeconomic, health, lifestyle, and psychosocial characteristics. Recall data were analyzed for energy, fat, alcohol (1 serving=13.7 grams), and fruit and vegetable (FV) intake, and a Healthy Eating Index (HEI) score was created. Alcoholic beverages were grouped into four categories: beer and ale, cordial and liqueur, distilled liquor, and wine. Days in which alcohol was consumed were grouped as light (&gt;0 to &lt;0.5 servings), moderate (≥0.5 to &lt;1.0 servings), and heavy (≥1.0 servings) drinking days. Bivariate analysis was performed to examine participant characteristics by alcohol drinking status (drinkers vs. non-drinkers; Pearson 2 and Fisher's exact tests), to describe amounts and types of alcohol consumed per participant and per day, and to determine differences in four measures of dietary quality (total energy, % energy from fat, FV, and HEI) by drinking status (t-tests and Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney tests) and, among drinkers only, amount of alcohol consumed (paired t-tests and Wilcoxon signed rank sum tests). Compared with non-drinkers (n=109), drinkers (n=47) were less obese (29.8% vs. 57.8%, p=0.007), more likely to currently smoke (80.8% vs. 52.3%, p=0.001), had more stressful life events (85.1% vs. 66.6% with ≥3 events, p=0.015), more likely to report same/worse health in the future (61.7% vs. 37.6%, p=0.006), and less likely to believe diet can prevent cancer (34.8% vs. 58.5%, p=0.007). On average, drinkers consumed 1.69 servings of alcohol, and most drinking days (65 out of 78) had heavy alcohol consumption (≥1.0 servings). Overall, dietary quality was poor, with mean (SE) HEIs of 56.97 (0.95) and 53.96 (1.20) among non-drinkers and drinkers, respectively (p=0.071). There were few differences in dietary quality by drinking status; mean daily total energy intake was higher among drinkers (2642.38 (152.16) kcal) than non-drinkers (2325.34 (92.77) kcal), though the difference was not statistically significant (p=0.0846).

However, among drinkers only, total energy was higher and % energy from fat lower on drinking days compared to days without alcohol intake (2881.50 (197.26) kcal vs. 2385.38 (243.62) kcal, and 33.05% (1.44) vs. 37.48% (1.72), respectively). FV intake and HEI did not differ by drinking day. High rates of alcohol intake and overall poor dietary quality show the need for further work to look at dietary and alcohol patterns more closely to reduce cancer disparities.

Citation Information: Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2011;20(10 Suppl):B56.