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Monozygotic twin study: moderate alcohol use may help women's bones.(Gynecology)
EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND -- Contrary to conventional wisdom, moderate alcohol consumption does not predispose women to osteoporosis and in fact may be protective, Dr. Frances M.K. Williams reported at the annual meeting of the British Society for Rheumatology.
"We were taught in medical school that alcohol is deleterious to bone," she said. And while evidence does exist that heavy drinkers are at risk for osteoporosis, the results of a monozygotic twin study contradict the conventional wisdom that all alcohol is harmful. This finding may have important implications for how clinicians advise patients, said Dr. Williams of the twin research and genetic epidemiology unit, St. Thomas' Hospital, London.
Heritability accounts for 80% of osteoporosis risk, but other risk factors need to be accurately determined to convey clear public health messages.
Using monozygotic twins as study subjects removes heritable factors from the analysis because they are completely matched for age and sex and closely matched for environment, culture, and education. Moreover, they are genetically matched in bone mineral density (BMD) as well as the propensity to consume alcohol and the metabolic response to it, Dr. Williams said.
"We sent questionnaires to all 1.358 female monozygotic pairs registered with the St. Thomas' Adult Twin Registry, asking for demographic data, health, and lifestyle details, particularly alcohol intake during the previous 12 months and present and past smoking." she said.
A total of 911 questionnaires were returned, 101 of which were discordant for alcohol use. Of these, 46 pairs were sufficiently discordant to be included in the analysis, with one twin consuming one unit or less per week and the other consuming a mean of eight units per week.
For the study, a unit, or standard size drink, was equivalent to 8 g ethanol. Of note, guidelines for alcohol consumption by gender differ between the United Kingdom and the United States. (See chart.)
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Source: HighBeam Research, Monozygotic twin study: moderate alcohol use may help women's...