Moderate Drinking and Bone Health

Can moderate drinking produce a stronger skeleton?

Sure, milk is good for your bones, but it isn't much fun at cocktail hour. Now a study of 2,471 men and postmenopausal women finds that those who consumed one to two glasses of beer or wine daily had up to 8 percent denser bones than teetotalers.

More research is needed to prove that moderate drinking is what's actually producing stronger skeletons. But beer is especially high in silicon, a trace mineral that promotes bone formation, says lead researcher Katherine L. Tucker, PhD, of Tufts University, and wine is chock-full of resveratrol, an antioxidant shown to protect against bone loss in animal studies. Don't go overboard, of course. Excess alcohol can actually harm bones -- and the rest of your body.

From Reader's Digest - September 2009

 

• • Osteoporosis
• Women's Health Guide

• A New Way to Keep Bones Strong
• A dietary move that's just as important as calcium and Vitamin D.
• 

• Be Inspired
• 10 Celebrities Who Give Back
• 7 Amazing Stories, $700,000 to Charity
• Virginia Cervasio: Making It Matter
• PLUS:
• Quiz: What's Your Celebrity Cause IQ?