A new study has found that binge drinking may put teenagers at an increased risk of developing osteoporosis and bone fractures later in life. Published in the journal Alcohol and Alcoholism, the study found long-term disruptions in many genes that play a role in bone formations in rats.
John Callaci, PhD, bone biologist at Loyola University Health System, says that damage to bones during adolescence may last decades. He noted that while data from animals doesn’t directly translate to humans, their findings suggest that a similar problem can occur in humans.
In 2008, Callaci and his colleagues found that adolescent rats who consumed amounts of alcohol comparable to human binge drinkers had 15 percent less bone mass build-up than rats that didn’t drink alcohol.
Their latest study looked at the effect of binge drinking on genes. The researchers injected rats with alcohol until their blood-alcohol level reached 0.28, which is very high. They were given this amount of alcohol on three consecutive days (acute binge drinking) or three consecutive days per week for four consecutive weeks (chronic binge drinking).
In acute binge-drinking rats, approximately 300 bone-related genes were disrupted, and in chronic binge-drinking rats, about 180 bone-related genes were disrupted. Alcohol either increased or decreased the amount of RNA (which helps make proteins, which are the foundation of bones) in the disrupted genes. The genes disrupted molecular pathways which are involved in bone metabolism and bone mass maintenance.
After 30 days of abstaining from alcohol (which translates to about three years in humans), the genes were still disrupted.
These results could help create new treatments to prevent bone loss in binge drinkers and others who have an increased risk of developing osteoporosis, though the best method of prevention is to avoid drinking alcohol, Callaci said.
Source: Science Daily, Are Teen Binge Drinkers Risking Future Osteoporosis?, July 18, 2010
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