Research

Hormonal

Daily moderate alcohol consumption (25g ethanol) for 6 weeks improves insulin sensitivity and increases adiponectin levels in postmenopausal women.

For postmenopausal women who already drink moderately, continuing to consume about one standard drink (25g alcohol) daily with dinner may support insulin sensitivity and healthy adiponectin levels. This does not mean non-drinkers should start drinking, as the risks of alcohol outweigh these specific metabolic benefits for most people.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Six weeks of white wine consumption reduced fasting insulin... and HOMA-IR... compared with 6 weeks of grape juice consumption. ADIPOQ mRNA levels... and plasma levels of total... and high molecular weight (HMW) adiponectin... significantly increased after alcohol compared with juice consumption.
Michel M. Joosten et al. · Diabetologia · 2008

Why this rating

Randomized, crossover, placebo-controlled trial with good compliance monitoring (EtG), though limited to a specific demographic (postmenopausal women).

Source

Moderate alcohol consumption increases insulin sensitivity and ADIPOQ expression in postmenopausal women: a randomised, crossover trial

Michel M. Joosten et al. · Diabetologia · 2008

DOI 10.1007/s00125-008-1031-y

crossover · n=36Cited 179×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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