M.A. Flynn, A.S. Baker, G.B. Nolph, G. Krause

Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Missouri-Columbia, (MA Flynn, AS Baker, GB Nolph), and Department of Statistics (G Krause). Study was financially supported by Wallace Research Fund, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, U.S.A. Correspondence: M.A. Flynn, Department of Family and Community Medicine, M221 School of Medicine, One Hospital Drive, Columbia, MO 65212 U.S.A. Telephone: 573-882-2922. Fax: 573-882-9096. E-mail: hallmh@health.missouri.edu

Self-controlled alcohol use and/or personal physical exercise is generally believed to be advantageous in extending good health in aging humans. We investigated whether data collected over 31 years in the same subjects (369 men, 75 women) in our Longitudinal Aging Study of humans (1969-2000) showed strong relationship between alcohol and/or physical exercise with High Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol (HDLC). Women's HDLC interactions among age, diet, alcohol use and/or exercise were not found to be statistically significant in our study. Men, however, showed a strong positive statistical significance (p£0.0001) among alcohol, personal physical exercise and HDLC.

Keywords: Aging, nutrition, alcohol, exercise, high density lipoprotein cholesterol, elderly.