Fit and tipsy? The interrelationship between cardiorespiratory fitness and alcohol consumption and dependence

PMID: 34431829 DOI: 10.1249 / MSS.000000000000002777

Commentary

This study was conducted to investigate whether high levels of cardiorespiratory fitness are associated with increased alcohol consumption and dependence in a large sample of adults attending a preventive medicine clinic.

It is a cross-sectional study of 38,653 apparently healthy patients enrolled in the Cooper Center Longitudinal Study. The primary independent variable was cardiorespiratory fitness based on a maximal treadmill test, and the dependent variables were alcohol consumption and addiction (self-reported).

Results showed that women within the moderate and high fitness categories were more likely to have moderate/heavy alcohol consumption compared to low fitness women, and similarly moderate to high fitness men were more likely to have moderate to heavy alcohol consumption compared to the low fitness group. Additionally, among men (but not women) who were heavy drinkers, higher levels of adjustment were associated with lower rates of proposed alcohol dependence.

These men had rates of clinically relevant alcohol problems across low, medium, and high fitness categories of 45.7%, 41.7%, and 34.9%, respectively.

The conclusion from these results is that higher fitness levels are significantly associated with more alcohol consumption, so interventions that focus on improving fitness may want to consider simultaneously aiming to reduce alcohol consumption.