Beneficial effect of moderate alcohol
consumption on osteoporosis in women
Women after
menopause tend to develop weaker bones from what is known as osteoporosis,
which may lead to fractures (especially hip fractures) from falling. The
weakness of the bones results from an imbalance between the normal resorption
(a type of dissolving of old bone) and the laying down of new bone, an ongoing
process for both men and women referred to as "bone turnover." For
poorly understood reasons, after menopause the resorption of old bone in women
continues but new bone is laid down less well, leading to a decrease in bone
density. A variety of substances (calcium, vitamin D and various medications)
have been used in an attempt to prevent the development of osteoporosis; in
epidemiologic studies, moderate drinking of alcohol has also been shown to
lower this risk.
An intervention
published in Menopause, involved 40
healthy postmenopausal women of an average age of 56. The authors measured
factors that relate to osteoporosis in post-menopausal women while subjects
were consuming alcohol (19g a day), after they had stopped drinking, and after
they had resumed their alcohol consumption. The authors state that excessive
bone turnover, combined with an imbalance whereby bone resorption exceeds bone
formation, is the principal cause of post-menopausal bone loss and conclude
that alcohol decreases the turnover of bone in post-menopausal women, which
leads to less resorption of bone, hence less osteoporosis. The study also
showed that abstinence from alcohol resulted in increased markers of bone
turnover (hence, higher risk of developing osteoporosis), whereas resumption of
alcohol consumption reduced bone turnover markers.
Moderate alcohol intake associated with bone protection
In an
epidemiological study of men and post-menopausal women primarily over 60 years
of age, regular moderate alcohol intake was associated with greater bone
mineral density (BMD). Researchers at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition
Research Center on Aging (USDA HNRCA) at Tufts University found associations
were strongest for beer and wine and, importantly, BMD was significantly lower
in men drinking more than two servings of liquor per day. The results suggest
that regular moderate consumption of beer or wine may have protective effects
on bone, but that heavy drinking may contribute to bone loss.
"Previous
research suggests that moderate alcohol consumption in older men and
post-menopausal women may protect against BMD loss, a major risk factor for
osteoporosis," said Katherine L. Tucker, PhD, corresponding author and
director of the Dietary Assessment and Epidemiology Research Program at the
USDA HNRCA. The 2005 Dietary Guidelines issued by the federal government
defines moderate alcohol consumption as one drink per day for women and two
drinks per day for men.
"Our study
also looks at the possible effects of the three alcohol classes, beer, wine and
liquor on BMD," Tucker continued. "We saw stronger associations
between higher BMD and beer drinkers, who were mostly men, and wine drinkers,
who were mostly women, compared to liquor drinkers." The results were
published in the American Journal of
Clinical Nutrition.
Tucker, who is
also a professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at
Tufts, and colleagues analyzed BMD measurements taken at three hip sites and
the lumbar spine in 1,182 men, 1,289 post-menopausal women, and 248
pre-menopausal women whose parents or in-laws participated in the original
Framingham Heart Study. There was not enough data to determine the effects of
more than two servings of alcohol per day in post-menopausal women or the
effects of daily alcohol consumption on BMD in pre-menopausal women.
Participants self-reported their alcohol intake on dietary questionnaires. One
serving of beer equaled a glass, bottle or can (356 mL), one serving of wine
equaled a 4-oz. glass (118 mL), and one serving of liquor equaled one mixed
drink or shot (42 mL).
After adjusting
for several other factors that may have accounted for the higher BMD, such as
silicon intake, calcium intake and smoking history, the authors still saw an
association between higher BMD and moderate alcohol consumption. One of the
strongest associations was seen in men who reported consuming one or two
servings of total alcohol (a combination of beer, wine and liquor) or one or
two servings of beer per day. Hip BMD in this group was significantly greater
compared to non-drinkers.
In contrast, the
authors observed significantly lower BMD at the hip and spine in men who
consumed more than two servings of liquor per day compared to men who consumed
one or two servings of liquor per day. "There is a body of research showing
alcoholism is devastating to bones," Tucker said. "It's a major risk
factor for osteoporosis. No one should depend solely on alcohol to maintain
bone health."
The authors
hypothesize that the silicon found in beer is contributing to the higher BMD scores
in the men who reported consuming one or two servings of total alcohol or beer
per day, citing previous studies finding silicon has greater bioavailability as
a liquid. It is less clear why liquor and wine might protect BMD.
"We cannot
say definitively what component of these alcoholic drinks might be beneficial
to bone health because our findings are from an observational study, as opposed
to a clinical trial," Tucker said. "Future studies might dig deeper
into patterns of alcohol consumption, as we relied on a self-reported dietary
questionnaire. Another component of data worthy of exploration is whether the
antioxidants found in wine, such as resveratrol or polyphenols, have a
protective effect on bone in addition to other health benefits."
Study suggests moderate drinking lowers risk of
developing rheumatoid arthritis in women
A follow-up
study of more than 34,000 women in Sweden has shown that moderate drinkers, in
comparison with abstainers, were at significantly lower risk of developing
rheumatoid arthritis (RA), an often serious and disabling type of arthritis. RA
is known to relate to inflammation, and it is thought that this inflammation is
blocked to some degree by the consumption of alcohol. In this study, women who consumed
at least 4 drinks per week (with a drink being defined as containing 15 grams
of alcohol) had 37% lower risk of developing RA than subjects reporting never
drinking or consuming less than 1 drink/week.
This large study
is important as few prospective studies are of adequate size to have sufficient
cases of RA to evaluate factors related to its development. The study supports
previous research showing a lower risk of developing RA, or milder severity of
the disease, among moderate drinkers than among abstainers.
Alcohol consumption lowers risk of developing
several arthritic conditions
Alcohol
consumption is associated with a significantly reduced risk of developing
several arthritic conditions including Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA),
Osteoarthritis (OA), reactive arthritis, psoriatic arthritis and
spondylarthropathy, according to results of a study presented at EULAR 2010,
the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism in Rome, Italy.
Regardless of the type of arthritis, all patients reported drinking less
alcohol than controls, leading to questions around the inflammatory pathways
behind the effects seen.
In this Dutch
study, alcohol consumption was associated with a significantly lower risk of
developing RA.
Interestingly,
researchers also found that the degree of systemic inflammation in patients was
shown to increase as the amount of alcohol consumed decreased (p=0.001) and
that there was no dose response relationship (low 0.12 (0.08-0.18), moderate
0.46 (0.36-0.59), high 0.17 (0.12-0.25)) between the amount of alcohol consumed
and the risk of arthritis development. Researchers hypothesise that there could
be two explanations for this inflammatory effect; either that patients with
more severe disease activity consume less alcohol due to associated changes in
their lifestyle, or that the presence of alcohol in the system could protect
against the development of systemic inflammation.
"We know
from previous research that alcohol consumption may confer a protective effect
against developing RA, our data have shown that this effect may apply to other
arthritic conditions too," said Dr Annekoos Leonoor Huidekoper, Leiden
University Medical Centre, Netherlands and lead author of the study. "What
intrigues us now is that the findings related to systemic inflammation, further
research into the inflammatory pathways involved is needed to determine the
exact nature of the association."
Patients with
arthritic conditions (n=997; RA n=651, reactive arthritis, spondylaropathy or
psoriatic arthritis n=273, osteoarthritis n=73) were enrolled from the Leiden
Early Arthritis Cohort and healthy controls (n=6,874) recruited from the
Multiple Environmental and Genetic Assessment of risk factors for venous
thrombosis study. Alcohol consumption was recorded at baseline (units per
week), and the effect of alcohol consumption on risk of disease development was
analysed by univariate and multivariate logistic regression (statistical tests
that predict the probability of an event occurring). Odds ratios and confidence
intervals (95%) were adjusted for age, sex, Body Mass Index (BMI) and smoking.
Professor Paul
Emery, President of EULAR and arc Professor of Rheumatology, Leeds Institute of
Molecular Medicine, University of Leeds, UK said: "These are very interesting
findings but we should assert the need for caution in the interpretation of
these data. Alcohol should be consumed in moderation, with consideration for
local public health recommendations. A number of social and medical problems
are associated with increased consumption of alcohol; therefore any positive
implications of its use must be understood within the wider health
context."
Regular
Tipple May Curb Risk of Rheumatoid Arthritis
Alcohol cuts the
risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis by up to 50%, reveals research
published in the Annals of the Rheumatic
Diseases.
The Scandinavian
researchers base their findings on more than 2750 people taking part in two
separate studies, which assessed environmental and genetic risk factors for
rheumatoid arthritis.
Over half the
participants (1650) had the disease and had been matched for age, sex, and
residential locality with randomly selected members of the general public.
All participants
were quizzed about their lifestyle, including how much they smoked and drank.
And blood samples were taken to check for genetic risk factors.
The results
showed that drinking alcohol was associated with a significantly lower risk of
developing rheumatoid arthritis. And the more alcohol was consumed, the lower
the risk of rheumatoid arthritis.
Among those who
drank regularly, the quarter with the highest consumption were up to 50% less
likely to develop the disease compared with the half who drank the least.
The effect was
the same for both men and women.
Among those with
antibodies to a specific group of proteins involved in the development of the
disease, alcohol cut the risk most in smokers with genetic risk factors for
rheumatoid arthritis.
Smoking is known
to be a major environmental risk factor for developing rheumatoid arthritis,
and this risk is further increased in those who carry these genetic variants.
The authors
conclude that their research reinforces the importance of lifestyle factors in
the development of the disease, and that giving up smoking remains the single
most important preventive measure.
They point to
recent experimental research by other authors, which showed that alcohol
protected against the development and severity of rheumatoid arthritis,
although it is not clear exactly how it does this.
And they draw
parallels with the links between moderate alcohol consumption and a reduced
risk of other inflammatory processes, such as cardiovascular disease.
Long-term,
moderate alcohol drinking may reduce future rheumatoid arthritis development
Having a beer a
few times a week might help women avoid painful rheumatoid arthritis, a new
study suggests.
The disease,
which affects women more than men, is a form of arthritis linked to immune
system dysfunction. According to the Arthritis Foundation, over 1.5 million
Americans suffer from the disease, which typically begins in the 20s or 30s.
However,
"long-term, moderate alcohol drinking may reduce future rheumatoid
arthritis development" in women, said lead researcher Dr. Bing Lu, an
assistant professor of medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard
Medical School, in Boston.
Overall,
moderate use of any form of alcohol reduced the risk by about 21 percent, but
moderate beer drinking -- two to four beers per week -- cut women's odds for
the disease by nearly a third, the study found.
The findings are
published in the spring 2014 issue of Arthritis
& Rheumatism.
In their
research, Lu's group tracked the drinking habits of women in two large studies,
the Nurses' Health Study and the Nurses' Health Study II. The first study began
in 1976, and includes more than 121,000 registered nurses. The second includes
more than 116,00 nurses, and started in 1989. Women answered questions about
their health and lifestyle every two years and about diet, including alcohol
consumption, every four years.
Long-term
moderate alcohol drinking appeared to reduce the risk of getting rheumatoid
arthritis, Lu said. But drinking a few beers per week seemed to have the best
effect, providing a 31 percent reduction in risk.
Lu said his team
can't yet explain how beer and other alcohol might reduce a woman's risk for
rheumatoid arthritis. He also doesn't know if the findings would apply to men.
"We don't know for men," Lu said, "but rheumatoid arthritis is
primarily a woman's disease."
The new study
does echo some previous research, noted one expert, Dr. Len Horovitz, an
internist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.
"There is a
correlation between alcohol and a reduced risk of rheumatoid arthritis over
time," he said, citing other studies. However, that doesn't mean that one
necessarily leads to the other -- "there is a correlation [shown here],
not cause and effect," Horovitz said.
Exactly how a
little alcohol may reduce a woman's odds for the joint malady is complicated,
he said. "The mechanism of action is very complex," Horovitz said,
involving immune system activity and other factors.
Dr. Daniel
Arkfeld, an associate professor of clinical medicine at the Keck School of
Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, called the findings
"astonishing."
He also pointed
to prior studies that have linked moderate alcohol intake with lower rheumatoid
arthritis risk, but added that none had focused on beer specifically.
It's possible
that alcohol may work to boost levels of estrogen, which is protective against
rheumatoid arthritis, Arkfeld said.
The new findings
might be especially relevant for someone with a family history of the disease,
added Dr. Scott Zashin, a rheumatologist in Dallas and a member of the media
committee for the American College of Rheumatology.
"The
likelihood of someone developing rheumatoid arthritis is not common,"
Zashin said. "But if you have a family history, your risk increases."
He said that
"patients with a family history might enjoy a beer a few times a week if
there is no other reason not to drink."
But while
imbibing the occasional drink may be good for your health, Horovitz stressed
that excessive drinking is never a good idea. Nor is the new finding a reason
for people who don't drink beer to start doing so, he said.
Arkfeld offered
one more caveat, noting that alcohol does not mix well with certain rheumatoid
arthritis drugs due to the risk of liver effects. So in those who already have
rheumatoid arthritis, checking with your doctor before upping your alcohol
intake is advised, he said.
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