Beer : Health and Nutrition

148 Chapter Six
ethanol beverages such as beer and wine may have their place in the lifestyles of
some older adults.
Stuttaford (1997)
Thomas and Rockwood (2001) and Liberto et al. (1992) sound a cautionary note,
however. Alcohol abuse can of course occur in the elderly just as it does in younger
people, leading to an increased prevalence of all types of dementia, except Alzheimer’s
disease.
An obvious risk of excess alcohol consumption in the elderly is the increased tendency
to fall. However, there is very little evidence to support claims that alcohol consumption
increases the risk of osteoporosis. Osteoporosis means ‘porous bones’, and is
caused by a depletion of calcium, phosphorus and other minerals. In fact bone mineral
density is higher in social or moderate drinkers than in abstainers or heavy drinkers.
8-Prenylnaringenin is claimed to counter osteoporosis (Miyamoto et al. 1998).
Rico et al. (2000) suggest that silicic acid is readily absorbed from beer and that
this may protect against osteoporosis. Jugdaosingh et al. (2002) stress how beer and
bananas can be the richest source of silicon for men, although string beans replace beer
in this context for women.
Mukherjee and Sorrell (2000) show that moderate alcohol consumption has positive
effects on bone mineral density in elderly women, and say that this is probably
mediated by a decrease in bone remodelling. Feskanich et al. (1999) found that women
who consumed 75 g or more alcohol per week had signi cantly higher bone densities
when compared to women who did not drink. The authors adjusted for age, body mass
index, age at menopause, the use of postmenopausal oestrogens, and whether or not
the woman smoked. The authors suggested that moderate alcohol consumption might
help to maintain bone density in postmenopausal women by increasing endogenous
oestrogens or alternatively by promoting the secretion of calcitonin. However, Grainge
et al. (1998) found that bone mineral density was particularly related to smoking habits,
with smokers having signi cantly lower bone mineral densities. Neither lifetime alcohol
consumption nor current alcohol consumption displayed an independent association
with bone mineral density. The authors did say, however, that the heaviest beer drinkers
had a lower bone density.
Tobe et al. (1997) found that xanthohumol and humulone inhibited bone resorption.
Humulone in particular had very strong inhibitory activity. In reminding us that
vitamin D mobilises calcium stores from bone by inducing the dissolution of bone
mineral and matrix, Honma et al. (1998) showed that the hop α-acid humulone inhibits
bone resorption. The authors point out that vitamin D also inhibits proliferation (and
induces differentiation) of myelomonocytic leukaemia cells, but that its clinical use
for this purpose is limited by the adverse effect of hypercalcaemia. Humulone alone
inhibited the growth of monoblastic leukaemia U937 cells and effectively enhanced the