Association between different alcoholic beverages and leukoplakia among non- to moderate-drinking adults: A matched case–control study

While heavy drinking is a risk factor for oral leukoplakia, the effects of moderate drinking and of different alcoholic beverages are unclear and were investigated in this case–control study. 187 leukoplakia patients, aged 40–65 years, who were not heavy drinkers and did not change their drinking/smoking habits over the last decade, were age/gender matched to 187 controls. The effect of regular, moderate, overall alcohol, beer, wine, spirit drinking, adjusted for the effects of heavy smoking and other important co-variables, were assessed using conditional logistic regression analysis. Overall alcohol (OR, 0.22), wine (OR, 0.20), spirits (OR, 2.93) were significantly associated to leukoplakia. A statistically significant interaction wine/heavy smoking was also found. Such different effects could be explained by the ethanol antagonising potential of other drink components, such as polyphenols, abundant in red wine and scarce in spirits. Among heavy smokers, the preventive effect of wine was more than multiplicative.