Osteoporosis Increases Danger of Broken Bones
30 August 2010
FAITH LAPIDUS: This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS, in VOA Special English. I’m Faith Lapidus.
BOB DOUGHTY: And I’m Bob Doughty. Today we tell about osteoporosis, a disease that can make bones weak so they break easily.
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FAITH LAPIDUS: A new study shows that binge drinking by teenagers may increase the possibility of osteoporosis in later life. Researchers in the United States say drinking a lot of alcohol over a short period may influence genes involved in bone formation.
Bone biologist John Callaci led a team studying the effects of alcohol on young rats. He teaches and leads a research laboratory at Loyola University’s medical school in the state of Illinois. His team’s findings appear in “Alcohol and Alcoholism,” a publication of Oxford University Press.
BOB DOUGHTY: Binge drinkers swallow large amounts of alcohol over a short period. One definition says binge drinking happens when a woman has at least four alcoholic drinks in a hurry. For men, binge drinking can mean five drinks in a short time.
America’s Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration says binge drinking can begin when a person is about thirteen years old. It says binge drinking generally worsens in young adulthood, and slowly decreases after that.
Professor Callaci’s team studied adolescent laboratory rats to learn the effects of binge drinking on their genes. The team injected alcohol into the animals. The injections resulted in a blood alcohol level of zero-point-two-eight.
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