OSTEOPOROSIS: A TOAST TO YOUR HEALTH
You'll be surprised what benefits bones
Drinking a glass or two of wine or beer daily might be linked to stronger bones in older women and men.
Researchers looked at the drinking habits of 1,289 postmenopausal women, 248 younger women and 1,182 men, and then recorded bone mineral density (BMD) in their hips and spines.
Postmenopausal women and men who drank wine or beer moderately had higher BMD readings than those who drank more or not at all, reports lead researcher Katherine L. Tucker, director of a nutrition research program at Tufts University in Boston.
Heavier drinking, meanwhile, is a major risk factor for osteoporosis. "To put it another way: A little bit is better than none, and too much is too much," says Robert P. Heaney, MD, a bone and nutrition expert at Creighton University in Omaha, NE.
Hard liquor was "less protective, and there was no relationship between drinking and bone health in premenopausal women," Tucker adds.
Of course, alcohol raises the risk of some cancers, including breast cancer. "You really need to think about your own health risks and your family history and balance those," Tucker cautions. "If your primary concerns are heart disease and osteoporosis, then a glass or two of wine is probably helpful. But if your primary concern is breast cancer, you really need to be careful of any alcohol."