Binge Drinking in Teenage Girls Is Detrimental to Bone Mass

(Newswire.net — June 8, 2020) Winnetka, IL — Bone health issues like osteoporosis continue to affect more and more people today. There are various risk factors of the condition that many experts continue to warn against.

Health authorities have long been warning against the dangers and increasing prevalence of osteoporosis, which affects over 200 million people in the world. One of its dangers is the increased risk of hip fractures, which in the elderly have been found to increase the odds of premature death. 

It is worth noting that annually, the global incidence of hip fractures is approximately 1.7 million. Experts warn that osteoporosis is considered to be a silent disease, and it usually slowly advances without exhibiting symptoms. Statistics further show that osteoporosis affects 54 million individuals in the United States.

A study was published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.

In this research, it has been found that teenage girls who binge drink regularly may be unable to reach their peak bone mass. 

This study involved 87 college women who regularly binge drank in high school. The subjects were then found to have lower bone mass in the spine. The results remained true even when the researchers accounted for other factors that affect bone density, which include exercise, nutrition and smoking habits.

According to lead researcher Joseph LaBrie, Ph.D., the findings suggest that poorer bone health can be added to the list of binge drinking risks for young women.

LaBrie is a professor of psychology at Loyola Marymount University, in Los Angeles, who conducted the research with health and human sciences professor Hawley Almstedt, Ph.D., R.D.N.

Aside from binge drinking, there are unhealthy habits like smoking found to be detrimental to bone health. It is important to avoid these habits and resort to some measures scientifically found helpful in protecting and improving the health of the bones.

Due to the growing interest of the scientific community to look for the most efficient preventive remedies against bone health issues, some researchers were able to identify some natural remedies that could potentially be helpful.

One is ashwagandha, which is an Ayurvedic herb that contains Withaferin A. Scientists found that this principal constituent of ashwagandha worked in increasing the proliferation of cells that take care of synthesizing the bones.

Further, ashwagandha has been found to enhance the expression of certain genes that help improve the number of osteoblasts or cells that synthesize the bones. It also increased the genes that work in mineralizing the bones.

Another mechanism it exerts to benefit bone health is its ability to promote the survival of osteoblasts and suppress inflammation-promoting proteins. All of these actions are significantly helpful in maintaining bone health.

While more studies are still being carried out to explore more of the bone-strengthening abilities of ashwagandha, its use is widespread nowadays. Supplements like NutraHerbals Ashwagandha have been found beneficial in delivering these benefits (http://amazon.com/organic-ashwagandha-root-powder/dp/B01GZALWGO).