Studies show that heavy drinking can lead to osteoporosis in women. But what about moderate drinking?
Is it possible it could be beneficial? One study gives us the answer.
In this study, researchers looked at 862 men and women in their 60s who were moderate drinkers. A moderate drinker is defined as a woman who drinks less than nine drinks per week and a man who drinks less than 14 per week. They checked their bone mineral density at the beginning of the study and then again two years later. During the two years, the men and women kept track of how much alcohol they drank. The results may surprise you.
There was a decided difference between men and women. In men, the more alcohol they drank the better their bone mineral tests were. This was particularly true for red wine. In women, the alcohol intake had no effect at all on their bone density. And in this group of moderate drinkers, the ones who drank more were no more likely to fall or to suffer a fracture than those who drank less.
Women are much more likely to get osteoporosis than men — four times more, to be specific. In this study, the fact that they did not improve was in all likelihood simply related to their increased chance of losing bone. Because here's the point. Their bone mineral density tests did not get worse either. Normally, you would have expected them to get worse over a two-year period. But the fact that they didn't signifies to me that the alcohol was also effective for them.
The primary reason women are so much more prone to osteoporosis than men has to do with their hormone levels. The hormones estrogen, progesterone, DHEA, testosterone, and HGH are the keys to keeping bones strong as you age. Whereas a man's hormone levels fall at a slow rate as he gets older, a woman's level falls dramatically in her early 50s when she goes through menopause. Alcohol stimulates the liver to metabolize hormones more rapidly. So it is very possible that the reason women don't show a better response to alcohol than men is that the alcohol clears out some of their protective hormones.
If you are a woman, especially if you have a greater risk for osteoporosis, make sure that you are getting bio-identical hormone replacement therapy from a doctor who is well-experienced in it. And, finally, feel free to indulge in a drink, especially red wine, every now and then.
Yours for better health,
Frank Shallenberger, MD
REF: Yin J, Winzenberg T, Quinn S, Giles G, Jones G. Beverage-specific alcohol intake and bone loss in older men and women: a longitudinal study. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2011 Apr;65(4):526-32.