Wednesday September 27 5:56 PM ET

Moderate drinking prevents bone loss in older women

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By Pam Harrison

TORONTO (Reuters Health) - Postmenopausal women who consume up to 15 drinks a week of either beer, wine or spirits, are less likely to lose bone than women who abstain from alcohol altogether, Finnish researchers report. The findings were presented at the 22nd annual meeting of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.

Dr. A. Salonen, from the University of Kuopio, Finland, and colleagues evaluated bone loss in the spine and upper thighbone in nearly 1,100 postmenopausal women involved in the larger Kuopio Osteoporosis Risk Factor and Prevention study.

For that study, more than 3,200 postmenopausal women, with an average age of 54 years, underwent bone mineral density testing in 1989-1991, and again in 1994-1997.

In Salonen's study, weekly alcohol consumption was assessed at baseline, and women were categorized as being either non-drinkers, low-moderate drinkers or high-moderate drinkers.

A total of 697 women in the group abstained from alcohol, while 338 women consumed between one and seven drinks per week. Another 63 women consumed more than seven drinks a week. Women who drank 15 or more drinks a week were excluded from certain analyses, the authors note.

After a 6-year follow-up, the average decrease in spinal bone mineral density (BMD) among women who did not drink was over three times the average decrease in women who consumed one to seven drinks a week, and over two times that of women who consumed more than seven drinks a week.

The average annual decrease in upper thighbone BMD was also more pronounced for women who did not drink. The differences in both spinal and upper thighbone BMD were highly statistically significant, the investigators add.

Women who consumed more than seven drinks a week were much more likely to smoke--28% of the group--compared with 6.5% of women who did not drink. Women who did not drink, on the other hand, were more likely to be physically inactive compared with women who drank. Approximately 30% of abstainers were physically inactive at baseline compared with approximately 16% of women who consumed one to seven drinks a week, and approximately 20% of women who consumed in excess of seven drinks a week.

-- (hmm@hmm.hmm), September 28, 2000

Answers

Hey babe, would you like to come up and prevent some bone loss?

-- (nemesis@awol.com), September 28, 2000.

Maybe next week, I've already had my weekly quota last night at dinner.

-- (smarty@wannabe.one), September 28, 2000.

"Women who drank 15 or more drinks a week were excluded from certain analyses, the authors note."

Couldn't they find them?

-- Anita (Anita_S3@hotmail.com), September 28, 2000.

Anita: Tee Hee, they should have tried the neighborhood taverns!!!!

Nem, great attempt at a pickup, but smarty GOTCHA!!! LOL

-- consumer (shh@aol.com), September 28, 2000.

Smarty,

Speaking of which, how do you feel today?

-- (Sheeple@Greener.Pastures), September 28, 2000.