The study, led by Dr Lu Wang, an epidemiologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, asked more than 19 200 US women, aged 39 and over who had normal body weight, to list their drinking habits and weight gain for an average of 13 years.
Although, on average, the women all tended to gain weight as time progressed, those who abstained from alcoholic drinks gained the most. The amount of weight gained decreased as alcohol consumption went up, the study found.
