Alcohol consumption and bone mineral density in elderly women

Abstract

Objective: Findings regarding alcohol consumption and bone mineral density (BMD) in elderly women have been inconsistent. The objective of the present study was to explore the association of alcohol intake with BMD in elderly women. Design: This cohort study included women from the population-based Kuopio Osteoporosis Risk Factor and Prevention -Fracture Prevention Study (OSTPRE-FPS). Alcohol intake and potential confounders were assessed at baseline and after 3 years of follow-up using a lifestyle questionnaire. In addition, an FFQ was distributed in the third year to measure dietary intake, including alcohol. Women underwent BMD measurements at the femoral neck and lumbar spine at baseline and after 3 years of follow-up. Setting: Kuopio Province, Finland. Subjects: Three hundred elderly women (mean age 67?8 years) who provided both BMD measurements and FFQ data. Results: Alcohol consumption estimated from the FFQ and lifestyle questionnaire was significantly associated with BMD at both measurement sites after adjustment for potential confounders, including lifestyle and dietary factors (P , 0?05). Using the FFQ, women drinking .3 alcoholic drinks/week had significantly higher BMD than abstainers, 12?0 % at the femoral neck and 9?2 % at the lumbar spine. Results based on the lifestyle questionnaire showed higher BMD values for all alcohol-consuming women at the femoral neck and for women drinking 1-3 alcoholic beverages/week at the lumbar spine, compared with non-users. Conclusions:The results from OSTPRE-FPS suggest that low to moderate alcohol intake may exert protective effects on bone health in elderly women.

Alcohol—a universal preventive agent? A critical analysis

“…After adjusting for many confounders, observational studies have demonstrated a significant correlation between light or moderate alcohol use and reduced risk of several diseases and health problems, as shown in the following list: • Alzheimer's disease/dementia [1][2][3] • Asthma [4] • Autoimmune hypothyroidism [5] • Colorectal cancer [6] • Common cold [7] • Coronary heart disease [8,9] • Diabetes (type 2) [10] • Gallstones [11] • Hearing loss [12,13] • Intermittent claudication [14] • Liver cirrhosis [15] • Low birth weight, prematurity [16] • Lower urinary tract symptoms (in men) [17] • Metabolic syndrome [18] • Negative child development [19][20][21] • Osteoporosis [22][23][24][25] • Overweight [26][27][28] • Psychiatric disorders [29][30][31][32] • Renal cell cancer [33] • Rheumatoid arthritis [34][35][36] • Stroke (ischaemic) [37] • General health status [38,39] • All cancer mortality [40] • Total mortality [41] For the majority of these diseases and health problems, the correlation has been confirmed in more than one study. For seven of these, several studies and metaanalyses have been published...…”

Bivariate genome-wide association analyses identified genetic pleiotropic effects for bone mineral density and alcohol drinking in Caucasians

“…Instead, we graded the alcohol drinking as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6, representing drinking alcohol never, less than once, once or twice, three to six times, seven to ten times, or more than ten times per week respectively. Although such graded methods are widely used in other studies [15, 42, 43], it will be more informative if the ethanol value can be quantitatively determined, such as in the study of Venkat et al [44]. In that study, alcohol drinking was converted into a quantitative value—expressed as grams of alcohol per week.…”

“…Human, animal, and cell culture studies of the correlation between alcohol consumption and BMD strongly suggest that alcohol has a dose-dependent toxic effect on osteoblast activity. Although a large number of studies have reported that moderate intake of alcohol appears to increase BMD in men and perimenopausal women [14, 15], long-term consumption of excessive amounts of alcohol eventually results in osteopenia, increased risk of osteoporosis, and delayed healing of fractures.…”

Osteoporosis and the orthopaedic surgeon: basic concepts for successful co-management of patients’ bone health

“…It has long been thought that alcohol in any amount has a negative effect on bone health, but researchers are now concluding that alcohol consumption in excess of three average drinks per day does indeed have a deleterious effect on BMD but low to moderate alcohol consumption, one to three drinks per week, in fact seems to be beneficial for bone health [47]. Smoking on the other hand should be avoided altogether [48].…”