- A new study shows that people who drink excessive amounts of alcohol may risk losing muscle mass later in life.
- Subjects who experienced the greatest loss in muscle mass consumed 10 or more units of alcohol per day.
- Regular strength training can help you maintain muscle mass as you age, reducing your risk of frailty.
- Experts recommend heavy drinkers curb their intake and limit their consumption to low or moderate drinking levels.
Growing evidence shows the harmful effects of alcohol ranging from
Individuals who consume excessive amounts of alcohol could muscle mass as they age and increase their risk of frailty, according to a new study from researchers at the University of East Anglia.
The results were published on May 24 in Calcified Tissue International.
“We know that losing muscle as we age leads to problems with weakness and frailty, so this suggests another reason to avoid drinking high amounts of alcohol routinely in middle and early older age,” Prof. Ailsa Welch, registered dietitian and professor of nutritional epidemiology at UEA’s Norwich Medical School, said in a news release.
“Alcohol intake is a major modifiable risk factor for many diseases, so we wanted to find out more about the relationship between drinking and muscle health as we age,” Prof. Welch stated.
Researchers examined data from the UK Biobank, containing health information from 500,000 people in the UK.
The research team looked at data for approximately 200,000 people between 37 and 73 years of age. The majority of subjects were middle-aged in their 50s and 60s.
Lead researcher Jane Skinner, PhD, a statistician, epidemiologist, and lecturer at Norwich Medical School, told Medical News Today:
“The large sample size available to us from the UK Biobank Study meant we could study the whole range of alcohol consumption in a big sample of the population. This meant we could capture drinking habits well and that we got…
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