New research has a review team concluding that one or two glasses of wine a day works as well as drugs at maintaining bone strength.
A team from The International Scientific Forum on Alcohol Research found that moderate intake of alcohol after menopause helped maintain bone strength. Their findings were based on the analysis of a study by the University of Oregon which concluded that abstaining from drinking led to a higher risk of developing osteoporosis. The review, published in the Menopause journal, was based on a study involving 40 healthy postmenopausal women, aged around 56. It suggests that modest drinking could work just as well as some drugs – more specifically, bisphosphonates.
It’s thought that alcohol works by reducing the loss of old bone and helps improve the balance between old and new bone, thereby maintaining strength. The study has been critiqued by Professor Jonathan Powell and Dr Ravin Jugdaohsingh of the Medical Research Council Nutrition Research Group at Cambridge Universit, who describe the study as “novel” and comment that the moderate alcohol effect on bone as being quite potent.
One caveat – excessive alcohol can increase the risk of fractures as well as the risk of falls. Moderation, it seems, is important in most things.
Read more here.
