Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2022 May-Jun;26(3):206-212.
doi: 10.4103/ijem.ijem_26_22. Epub 2022 Aug 4.

Chronic Alcohol Consumption and its Impact on Bone and Metabolic Health - A Narrative Review

Johns T Johnson  1 , Mohammad Anwar Hussain  1 , Kripa Elizabeth Cherian  1 , Nitin Kapoor  1 , Thomas V Paul  1
Affiliations
Review

Chronic Alcohol Consumption and its Impact on Bone and Metabolic Health - A Narrative Review

Johns T Johnson et al. Indian J Endocrinol Metab. 2022 May-Jun.

Abstract

Chronic consumption of a large quantity of alcohol often results in the disruption of the communication between the nervous, endocrine and immune systems leading to profound and serious consequences at the physiological and behavioral levels. The overall impact of excessive alcohol consumption on bone health, metabolic profile and body composition, especially at moderate levels, is not well understood. Chronic excessive alcohol consumption adversely affects bone health through multiple mechanisms leading to low bone mass. It may also be significantly associated with various components on the metabolic syndrome. This review summarizes the findings from published studies that provide consistent evidence on the various effects of alcohol abuse on the bone health and metabolism.

Keywords: Chronic alcohol consumption; low bone mass; metabolic syndrome.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

There are no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Mechanisms of adverse effects of alcohol on bone
Figure 2
Figure 2
Body composition analysis in a chronic alcohol consumer (left panel). In comparison, the body composition analysis from a health adult male who is not an alcohol consumer is provided (right panel). The body composition has been performed using a DXA scan. The total body fat is 32.1% in the alcohol consumer as opposed to 23.2% in the non-alcohol consumer
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Kranzler HR, Soyka M. Diagnosis and pharmacotherapy of alcohol use disorder:A Review. JAMA. 2018;320:815–24. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Saunders JB, Aasland OG, Babor TF, de la Fuente JR, Grant M. Development of the alcohol use disorders identification test (AUDIT):WHO collaborative project on early detection of persons with harmful alcohol consumption--II. Addict Abingdon Engl. 1993;88:791–804. - PubMed
    1. BASELINE TABLES 07062016.pdf. [Last accessed on 2019 Dec 15]. Available from:http://www.censusindia.gov.in/vital_statistics/BASELINE%20TABLES. 07062016.pdf.
    1. Eashwar VMA, Gopalakrishnan S, Umadevi R, Geetha A. Pattern of alcohol consumption and its associated morbidity among alcohol consumers in an urban area of Tamil Nadu. J Fam Med Prim Care. 2019;8:2029–35. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Kumar SG, K CP, L S, E S, Vinayagamoorthy, Kumar V. Prevalence and pattern of alcohol consumption using alcohol use disorders identification test (AUDIT) in Rural Tamil Nadu, India. J Clin Diagn Res. 2013;7:1637–9. - PMC - PubMed