Alcohol damages health and is considered a risk factor for many diseases that could be avoided. However, its consumption is widespread worldwide, and according to an analysis of ‘Global Burden of Disease’ published in The Lancet, an estimated 1.340 million people consumed harmful amounts of alcohol in 2020. Furthermore, alcoholism not only harms the affected, but has negative consequences for the people around them.
A new study has found another undesirable effect of drinking alcohol because it reveals that heavy drinkers may also be at risk of losing muscle mass and developing frailty, a condition known as sarcopenia that is associated with aging and a sedentary lifestyle. The research has been carried out by scientists from the University of East Anglia (UEA), who have shown with statistical models that individuals with the least amount of muscle drank 10 units of alcohol or more each day, which is equivalent to a bottle of wine. approximately.
“Losing muscle as we age leads to problems of weakness and frailty in old age,” said Professor Ailsa Welch, from UEA Norwich Medical School, adding that “alcohol intake is a major factor in modifiable risk for many diseases, so we wanted to learn more about the relationship between alcohol consumption and muscle health as we age.”
Less muscle mass in middle-aged people who drink alcohol
The researchers used data from the UK Biobank, a large database containing anonymous information on the lifestyle and health of half a million people in the UK, and recruited 196,561 men and women aged 37-73. . To carry out their evaluation, they took into account the size of the body –because larger people also have more muscle mass– and aspects such as protein consumption and the physical activity they carried out.
Most of the people tested were between the ages of 50 and 60, and those who drank a lot of alcohol had less skeletal muscle compared to people who drank less.
They studied the amount of alcohol these individuals drank and compared it to the amount of muscle they had, based on their body size. “We also took into account things like how much protein they were eating, their levels of physical activity, and other factors that could make a difference in how much muscle they might have,” explained Dr. Jane Skinner, also from the School of UEA Norwich Medicine.
The researcher notes that most of the people analyzed were between the ages of 50 and 60 and found that those who drank heavily had less skeletal muscle compared to people who drank less, after accounting for their body size and other factors that could influence “We saw that it really became a problem when people were drinking 10 or more units a day, which is equivalent to a bottle of wine, or four or five pints.”
The findings have been published in the journal Calcified Tissue International and according to Professor Welch show that “alcohol may have deleterious effects on muscle mass at higher levels of consumption.” “We know that losing muscle as we age leads to problems with weakness and frailty, so this suggests another reason to avoid routinely drinking large amounts of alcohol in early and middle age,” she concludes.
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