July 11, 2012 — Moderate consumption of alcohol as part of a regular healthy lifestyle may promote bone health in postmenopausal women and help them avoid developing osteoporosis, according an article published online July 9 inMenopause.
Jill A. Marrone, MS, from the Nutrition Division, School of Biological and Population Health Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, and colleagues conducted a 15-day intervention trial that included postmenopausal women who were healthy, younger than 65 years, and not taking hormone therapy.
During the week before intervention, 40 postmenopausal women drank their normal amounts (average, 1.4 drinks/day) of alcohol and kept a diary. For the 14-day intervention, the women abstained from drinking any alcohol. On day 15, researchers gave a measured amount of alcohol, based on the women's previous drinking patterns, for them to drink.
During the study, the researchers took blood samples from the women before, during, and after the intervention to assess whether alcohol consumption affected bone turnover, the process through in which old bone material is removed and new bone is created. In osteoporosis, more bone is lost than replaced. Postmenopausal women are at increased risk for osteoporosis because of decreased estrogen. However, prior observational studies have shown a correlation between moderate alcohol consumption and higher bone density.
The researchers measured the women's bone mineral density (BMD) using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry and conducted serum assays to measure for bone turnover biomarkers, the bone resorption marker C-terminal telopeptide (CTx), and the bone formation marker osteocalcin. They used a linear regression model to assess the relationship between alcohol intake and BMD, CTx, and osteocalcin.
The researchers found a positive correlation between alcohol level and BMD at the hip and upper leg area. They also saw an increase in osteocalcin and CTx during the 14-day abstinence intervention (4.1% ± 1.6% [P = .01] and 5.8% ± 2.6% [P = .02] compared with baseline, respectively). The levels of the bone turnover markers then trended down again on the morning of day 15 (−3.4% ± 1.4% [P = .01] and −3.5% ± 2.1% [P = .05], respectively) after the participants drank alcohol on the evening of day 14.
"[W]e observed a reduction in bone turnover markers 12 to 14 hours after a single administration of alcohol to values that did not differ significantly from baseline," the researchers write.
"Drinking moderately as part of a healthy lifestyle that includes a good diet and exercise may be beneficial for bone health, especially in postmenopausal women," Urszula Iwaniec, PhD, associate professor in the College of Public Health and Human Sciences at Oregon State University, and one of the study's authors, said in a news release. "After less than 24 hours to see such a measurable effect was really unexpected."
Alcohol's inhibitory effect reduces the force of excessive bone turnover associated with menopause, the researchers write. "[O]ur findings support the hypothesis that moderate dietary alcohol consumption may slow bone loss in postmenopausal women by attenuating increased bone turnover. The observed actions provide a plausible cellular mechanism for the positive association between moderate alcohol consumption and BMD observed in postmenopausal women," they note.
Limitations of the study include the lack of randomization and ethnic diversity (all but one of the women were white). In addition, as the type of alcohol consumed was not controlled, the possibility exists that some nonalcoholic component of the drinks may have influenced results.
The researchers conclude, however, that "[i]n spite of these limitations, this study demonstrates that moderate alcohol intake has rapid suppressive effects on bone turnover markers in postmenopausal women."
This study was supported by the National Institutes of Health and the John C. Erkkila, MD, Endowment for Health and Human Performance. The authors have disclosed no relevant financial interests.
Menopause. Published online July 9, 2012. Abstract
No comments:
Post a Comment