Parkinson’s disease risk and alcohol intake: A systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis of prospective studies

The association between Parkinson’s disease risk and alcohol intake is a controversial topic. A paper published in the journal, Frontiers in Nutrition reports how researchers assessed the association between Parkinson’s disease risk and alcohol intake.
Medical databases were searched for eligible studies with prospective design on Parkinson’s disease risk and alcohol intake. A meta-analysis analysis was performed and relative risk ratios (RRs) with 95% CIs were calculated.
Eleven prospective studies were included. Overall, a higher intake of alcohol was inversely associated with Parkinson’s disease risk (RR: 0.81, 95% CI: 0.70-0.95, I 2 = 73.7%). Significant differences existed between the specific types of alcoholic beverages and geographic area. Specifically, a significant association existed for beer (RR: 0.78, 95% CI: 0.65-0.94, I 2 = 0.0%) and studies conducted in Asia (RR: 0.66, 95% CI: 0.55-0.80, I 2 = 37.3%). Dose-response analysis indicated a nonlinear relationship between Parkinson’s disease risk and alcohol exposure. No evidence for publication bias was detected.
In summary, the meta-analysis suggests that alcohol consumption was associated with a decreased risk of Parkinson’s disease, with a nearly U-shaped association. Future studies are warranted to clarify the question of a specific type of alcoholic beverage-dependent association, geographic area effect, and possible threshold effects regarding both the adverse and beneficial effects of alcohol.
Source: Shao C, Wang X, Wang P, Tang H, He J, Wu N. Parkinson’s Disease Risk and Alcohol Intake: A Systematic Review and Dose-Response Meta-Analysis of Prospective Studies. Front Nutr. 2021 Oct 14;8:709846.