American Journal of Epidemiology Vol. 146, No. 12: 1019-1024
Copyright © 1997 by The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health
research-article |
Determinants of 
-Glutamyltransferase: Positive Interaction with Alcohol and Body Mass Index, Negative Association with Coffee
From the National Public Health Institute Helsinki, Finland
Reprint requests to Dr. Kari Poikolainen, National Public Health Institute, Mannerheimintie 166, 00300 Helsinki, Finland
-Glutamyltransferase is widely used as a marker of alcohol intake although its performance is poor. This might be related to other conditions influencing -glutamyltransferase activity. The authors studied determinants of -glutamyltransferase activity in a random sample (n = 6,010) drawn from the general population aged 25–64 years in Finland in 1992. In regression analysis, coffee intake and drinking boiled coffee were significantly (p < 0.01) negatively related to -glutamyltransferase, whereas age, male gender, the number of cigarettes per day, serum total cholesterol and high density lipoprotein cholesterol, heart rate, and diastolic blood pressure were significantly positively related to -glutamyltransferase. A significant (p = 0.02) positive interaction was observed between alcohol intake and body mass index. In logistic regression analysis, the proportion of elevated -glutamyltransferase values (
50 U/liter) was significantly decreased, compared with lifelong abstainers, at the alcohol intake level of <40 g/week (odds ratio (OR) = 0.51, 95% confidence interval (Cl) 0.29–0.92) and significantly increased at the level of 300 g/week (OR = 2.81, 95% Cl 1.35–5.85) among nonobese subjects (body mass index < 27 kg/m2). Among obese subjects, the respective proportion was significantly increased at the alcohol intake level of 40 g/week (OR = 2.02, 95% Cl 1.11–3.68). The proportion of elevated -glutamyltransferase values was significantly decreased at the coffee intake levels of both four to six cups a day (OR = 0.44, 95% Cl 0.31–0.62) and seven or more cups a day (OR = 0.36, 95% Cl 0.24–0.53). In addition, drinkers of boiled coffee had elevated -glutamyltransferase values more often than drinkers of filtered or instant coffee (OR = 0.59, 95% Cl 0.42–0.84). No effects of alcoholic beverage preference were observed. Elevated -glutamyltransferase activities appear to be related to heavy alcohol intake among the nonobese and to very light intake among obese subjects. Coffee appears to decrease -glutamyltransferase activity. Am J Epidemiol 1997;146:1019–;24.
alcohol drinking; blood pressure; body mass index; cholesterol; coffee; gamma-glutamyltransferase; obesity; smoking
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