Interrelationship Between Alcohol Intake and Endogenous Sex-Steroid Hormones on Diabetes Risk in Postmenopausal Women.

Objective: We examined whether circulating concentrations of sex hormones, including estradiol, testosterone, sex hormone–binding globulin (SHBG), and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS), were associated with alcohol intake or mediated the alcohol–type 2 diabetes (T2D) association.Methods: Among women not using hormone replacement therapy and free of baseline cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes in the Women's Health Study, 359 incident cases of T2D and 359 matched controls were chosen during 10 years of follow-up.Results: Frequent alcohol intake (≥1 drink/day) was positively and significantly associated with higher plasma estradiol concentrations in an age-adjusted model (β = 0.14, 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.03, 0.26), compared to rarely/never alcohol intake. After adjusting for additional known covariates, this alcohol–estradiol association remained significant (β = 0.19, 95% CI, 0.07, 0.30). Testosterone (β = 0.13, 95% CI, −0.05, 0.31), SHBG (β = 0.07, 95% CI, −0.07, 0.20), and DHEAS (β...