I found this article in a recent The Week in their Science & Health section. You can imagine how delighted I was to read that red wine has been found to protect our bones as we age. This is good news! Here is what I read:
Wine may be a better beverage for maintaining strong bones than milk-- at least for older women. A new study of post-menopausal women between the ages of 50 and 65 shows that a glass or two of wine a night actually helps shore up their bones. Researchers tested the bone strength of 40 moderate drinkers before, during, and after a two-week abstention from alcohol. They found that when the women stopped drinking, their bones began to shed old cells, a process called resorption, more quickly than normal. As postmenopausal women lose bone-building estrogen, resorption often outpaces the production of new bone cells, weakening bones and increasing the risk of fractures and osteoporosis. But as soon as the women resumed drinking, their resorption rates returned to normal-- suggesting that alcohol may significantly slow typical bone-cell loss. "after less than 24 hours, to see such a measurable effect was really unexpected," Oregon State University researcher Ursula Iwaniec tells The Globe and Mail (Canada). Previous research has found that moderate drinking leads to a host of health benefits, including lower risks of arthritis, stroke, and cardiovascular disease.
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