Calcium Metabolism: Alcohol Disrupts the Balance in Your Body
Calcium is what makes your bones and teeth strong and rigid. It is also found dissolved in body fluids. Calcium is very important to your everyday life; it is what allows communication between and within cells.
Several hormones regulate calcium absorption,
excretion and distribution between bones and body fluids:
§
Parathyroid
hormone (PTH)
§
Vitamin
D-derived hormones
§
Calcitonin,
which are made by specifically cells in the thyroid.
What does alcohol do to bone metabolism?
Even
one night of drinking causes temporary PTH deficiency and increased urinary
calcium excretion. This means you lose
calcium from your body.
Furthermore,
if you choose to drink chronically, vitamin D metabolism will be obstructed,
and thus you will not be able to absorb calcium that you get from your diet.
|
|
|
Woman with osteoporosis, notice her posture
which is characteristic of those with osteoporosis. |
Several
studies indicate that alcohol is directly damages the cells that form your
bones and indirectly contributes to nutritional deficiencies of calcium or
vitamin D. Alcohol also indirectly
causes inefficient bone metabolism through liver disease and altered levels of
reproductive hormones.
Inefficient
bone metabolism may lead to osteoporosis; osteoporosis causes abnormal loss of
bone mass resulting in increased risk of fractures. It affects 4 million to 6 million Americans. This condition is
more common in women after menopause.
In alcoholics, the risk of osteoporosis is increased. Furthermore, because many falls are related
to alcohol use, adverse alcohol effects on bone metabolism pose a serious
health problem
Why are alcoholics more likely to suffer from bone disease?
Alcohol
makes it difficult for calcium to be absorbed from the gastrointestinal
tract. This causes serum calcium levels
to fall which feeds back to parathyroid glands resulting in increase secretion
of parathyroid hormone (PTH).
This
increase in PTH then leads to calcium resorption or calcium withdrawal from
bone causing demineralization of bone and osteoporosis bone disease. PTH could also directly inhibit bone-forming
cells called osteoblasts.
As
you may recall from the effects of alcohol on the reproductive organs, alcohol
reduces testosterone levels. Reduced
testosterone levels cause bone demineralization; many studies have indicated
that androgens in the male are necessary for preserving bone mass. Low testosterone levels that are induced by
alcohol use may cause osteoporosis which then leads to the greater possibility
of breaking your bones. Studies on
chronic alcoholics have shown a reduction in bone mass of up to 50 percent.
Studies
with abstinent alcoholics have found that alcohol-induced changes in bone
metabolism including a toxic effect on bone forming cells are at least
partially reversible after you stop drinking.
|
|
|
This definitely won’t be you
if you decide to abuse alcohol! |
What else can the increase in PTH release caused by alcohol do?
PTH
also causes more phosphorous excretion into the urine, which results in low
serum phosphorous levels.
Low
phosphorous levels is called Hypophosphatemia and means bad things for muscles.
People with hypophosphatemia experience weakness of
the shoulder and pelvic girdle muscles, making it difficult for patients to
perform simple maneuvers such as rising from a sitting position and climbing
stairs.
Back to Overview of Endocrine System
Let’s
discuss a few of the major problems you may encounter if you continue to drink
alcohol heavily.
Are you pregnant or nursing? Find out what alcohol does to the hormone Prolactin.
Ads that say alcohol is sexy are dead wrong...Find out why.