Drink wine with your spaghetti

Middle-aged women who eat a lot of refined carbohydrates might offset their risk of getting type two diabetes by drinking a moderate amount of alcohol, a new study suggests.

Following more than 80000 women older than 26 years, researchers found that those who drank alcohol and had a diet high in refined carbohydrates, such as white bread and sugary drinks, had a 30% lower risk of developing diabetes than women with similar eating habits who didn't drink alcohol. Previous research has linked moderate drinking with lower diabetes risk, but the new study tried to get at why that might be by looking specifically at women with diets high in refined carbohydrates.

"If you eat a high carb diet without drinking alcohol, your risk of developing diabetes is increased by 30%," said senior author Dr Frank Hu, who studies nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, Massachusetts.

"If you eat a high-carb diet, but [drink] a moderate amount of alcohol, this increased risk is reduced," he said.