Drinking wine or beer up to four times a week can protect against diabetes, researchers say

But gin was found to massively increase chances of developing the condition in women

Man drinking a glass of beer (Getty)

Drinking some types of alcohol up to four times a week can significantly protect against diabetes, a study has suggested.

Compared to teetotallers, men who drink three to four days a week are 27 per cent less likely to develop the condition, and women 32 per cent less likely, researchers said.

The Danish scientists, led by Professor Janne Tolstrup from the University of Southern Denmark, publishing their findings in the journal Diabetologia.

They said wine had the most substantial effect—probably because it contains chemical compounds that improve blood sugar balance.

But gin and some other spirits had a massively converse effect on women, with just one drink a day increasing the risk of diabetes by 83 per cent.

The study examined the habits of 70,551 men and women in Denmark across five years.

A total of 859 men and 887 women from the study group developed diabetes.

The investigation did not distinguish between the two forms of diabetes, Type 1 and the much more common Type 2.

"Our findings suggest that alcohol drinking frequency is associated with the risk of diabetes and that consumption of alcohol over 3 to 4 weekdays is associated with the lowest risks of diabetes, even after taking average weekly alcohol consumption into account," the authors wrote.

In terms of the amount of alcohol consumed, men who consumed 14 drinks per week were 43 per cent less likely to develop diabetes than those who drank nothing, the scientists claimed.

And the diabetes risk to women who consumed nine drinks per week was said to be 58 per cent lower than it was for non-drinkers.

For both men and women, seven or more glasses of wine per week lowered the risk of diabetes by 25 per cent to 30 per cent compared with having less than one drink of wine.

One to six beers per week reduced diabetes risk by 21 per cent in men but had no effect on women.