Teenage Binge Drinkers May Be Putting Themselves at Risk For Future Osteoporosis

Binge-drinking teenagers may be putting themselves at risk for future osteoporosis and bone fractures, according to researchers at Loyola University Health System. The new study found binge drinking disrupts genes involved in the bone formation of rats. The study is published in the July-August issue of the journal Alcohol and Alcoholism.

Bone biologist John Callaci, PhD, one of the principle researchers in the study, cautioned that data from animals don’t directly translate to people, but the findings suggest that this could be a problem with humans. Bone mass is lost throughout adult life as part of the aging process. Thus, anything that inhibits the build up of bone mass during the critical years of adolescence and young adulthood could increase the risk of osteoporosis and fractures in later life.

A 2008 study by Callaci and colleagues found that adolescent rats exposed to alcohol in amounts comparable to that of binge drinkers had 15 percent less bone build-up than control rats exposed to saline solution. The new study examined the effects of binge drinking on genes. Rats received injections of alcohol that resulted in a blood alcohol level of 0.28. Rats were exposed to binge amounts of alcohol on either three consecutive days (acute binge) or three consecutive days for four weeks in a row (chronic binge). They were compared to control rats who received saline.

Researchers found that about 300 bone-related genes were disrupted in rats exposed to acute binge drinking and 180 bone-related genes were disrupted in rats exposed to chronic binge drinking. In the affected genes, alcohol either increased or decreased the amount of associated RNA, which serves as the template for making proteins, the building blocks of bones and other tissue. This change in how genes are expressed disrupted molecular pathways responsible for normal bone metabolism and maintenance of bone mass.

In one of the most disturbing findings, researchers found that the gene disruption was long-lasting. Even after 30 days of sobriety, the genes still were being expressed differently. Thirty days in a rat’s lifespan is roughly equivalent to about three years in a human lifespan, according to the research team.
The findings might help in the development of new drugs to minimize bone loss in alcohol abusers and in other people who are at risk for osteoporosis for other reasons. The study was supported by a grant from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.