Association between alcohol intake and bone mineral density: results from the NHANES 2005-2020 and two-sample Mendelian randomization.

We used the data from the NHANES cross-sectional study among 14,113 participants and indicated a positive correlation between alcohol intake frequency and bone mineral density in different body sites. Mendelian randomization was conducted, and no causal relationship is significant between these two variables. The study can provide some suggestions on the daily consumption of alcohol for osteoporosis patients.

Purpose: The effect of alcohol intake on bone mineral density (BMD) remains unclear. This study explored the association and causality between alcohol intake and BMD.

Methods: Based on the 2005-2020 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey including 14,113 participants, we conducted co-variate-adjusted multilinear regression analyses to explore the association between alcohol intake levels and spine or femur BMD. To evaluate the causal association between alcohol intake frequency and bone mineral density, the inverse variance weighted approach of two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) was used with genetic data from the Medical Research Council Integrative Epidemiology Unit (462,346 cases) for alcohol intake frequency and the Genetic Factors for Osteoporosis Consortium (28,496 cases) for lumbar spine and femur neck BMD (32,735 cases).

Results: Compared with non-drinkers, total femur BMDs but not total spine BMD increased with daily alcohol intake in males (β = 3.63*10^-2 for mild drinkers, β = 4.21*10^-2 for moderate drinkers, and β = 4.26*10^-2 for heavy drinkers). By contrast, the higher total spine BMD in females was related to higher alcohol intake levels (β = 2.15*10^-2 for mild drinkers, β = 2.59*10^-2 for moderate drinkers, and β = 3.88*10^-2 for heavy drinkers). Regarding the two-sample MR results, no causal relationship was observed between alcohol intake frequency and lumbar spine BMD (odds ratio [OR] = 1.016, P = 0.789) or femur neck BMD (OR = 1.048, P = 0.333).

Conclusion: This study suggests a positive association between alcohol intake frequency and BMD, although the causal relationship was not significant.