Health Care

A well-known consequence of alcoholism is brittle
bones. Now some new findings suggest that even young
men are at risk of developing low bone mass. A similar
risk was not seen in their female equivalents.

Researchers found in a study of 57 alcoholic adults,
between the ages of 27 and 50, that one quarter of the
men had lower than normal bone mass. Just 1 of the 20
women the researchers examined had a deficit in bone
mass.

The latter finding, the researchers speculate, might be
explained by the women's relatively high estrogen levels
that, for the time being, may have protected their bone
mass.

Opposite to that , men had no such hormonal protection
and, like their female counterparts, showed high
deficiency rates of vitamin D, which is important in
maintaining bone mass.

The findings suggest that even young alcoholic patients
should have their bone mass and bone metabolism
screened, the researchers report in the journal
‘Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research'.
According to the researchers, the fact that even
relatively healthy young male alcoholics without any
kind of liver disease show low bone mineral density is
an important finding.

It is thought that alcoholism leads to bone thinning, in
part, because of toxic effects on the body's bone-
forming cells. However, indirect effects may be at work
as well. Alcoholics often have poor diets and little
exercise, both of which can drain bone density.

It was pointed in this study that, bone density was not
related to the duration of patients' alcohol dependency
or to the amount of alcohol they had consumed before
going into treatment.

This finding suggests that alcoholic patients' lifestyle
habits may indeed contribute to waning bone density.

Bone density can improve if the alcoholics are able to
stop drinking. Few studies have followed young
recovering alcoholics' bone health over time.