Alternative Health Blog

The Alternative Health Blog is always at your service. Here’s some research that might brighten your weekend—or even a hard weekday after work. A new study from Tufts University in Boston shows that a daily glass or two of wine or beer can help maintain bone density and strength.

Good deal, pass the chardonnay. The research paper was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

There is a catch. Moderation is a key factor. You want to keep your alcohol intake to one or two glasses of wine or beer. What’s more, opting for hard liquor doesn’t appear to achieve the same benefit. In fact, drinking more than two glasses of wine or beer per day, or switching to, say, vodka or bourbon, might result in weaker bones.

Tufts researcher Katherine Tucker knows what you are thinking: Hey, another wine study that points to the positive, though this one doesn’t dictate that red wine is healthier than a crisp white or amber microbrew. Some studies show that a daily glass of wine might protect against heart disease, while other research shows that alcohol might increase risk for breast cancer.

"It is very confusing for people because alcohol has such diverse effects on different things," said Tucker during an interview with Reuters. Even so, she added that alcohol’s effect on bone density is "larger than what we see for any single nutrient, even for calcium. It's not ambiguous. It's very clear."

Tucker and her colleagues evaluated nearly 1,200 men plus another 1,200-plus postmenopausal women and about 250 pre-menopausal women. Men who drank beer or wine moderately enjoyed significantly healthier bone strength than men who selected hard liquor or three or more beers each days as their alcohol habit. Tucker said beer is a plentiful source of silicon, a mineral involved in bone health not abundant in other parts of the American diet.

Among women, there were not enough females who drank more than two glasses of wine per day to establish statistical significance. Anecdotally, women who drank even three glasses of wine per day fared better in maintaining bone density compared ot hard liquor. Tucker said that is likely because wine has plant substances not found in most liquors. She theorizes that alcohol boosts estrogen hormonal counts, which is good for bone strength but a negative as it relates to breast cancer.

"The main message here is that if you are drinking up to one or two glasses of wine or beer a day, you don't need to stop for your bones' sake, in fact it's helpful," Tucker said. "It's a personal decision."

Bob Condor blogs for Alternative Health Blog every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.