Hypothesis: Vitamin D would decrease alcohol problems – July 2013

Pattern and cause of fractures in patients who abuse alcohol: what should we do about it?
Postgrad Med J. 2013 Jul 26. doi: 10.1136/postgradmedj-2013-131990.
Kelly KN, Kelly C., Liverpool Medical School, Liverpool, UK.

Alcohol abuse is increasing in the UK and contributes significantly to the rising number of acute hospital admissions.
The effects are increasingly seen among younger people who binge drink.
The effects of excess alcohol on the skeleton have attracted far less attention than those on other organs, but the risk of fractures at important sites, such as the hips and vertebrae, is greatly increased in alcoholics.
This is partly owing to reductions in bone mineral density, but other factors such as an increased rate of falls play an important part.
The contribution of excess alcohol consumption to the risk of fractures is recognised in the widely available fracture assessment tool (FRAX). The mechanisms of fracture in alcohol abusers are complex and involve direct effects on bone cells, and indirect effects, mediated by alcohol, on the endocrine system, pancreas and cytokine system. Poor nutrition, with a reduction in body mass index and vitamin D levels, often contributes significantly. Prevention and treatment of fractures in alcohol abusers has received limited attention, and there are surprisingly few therapeutic trials to guide clinical intervention. Abstinence has been shown to improve markers of bone turnover within 2 months. However, compliance with oral therapeutic agents is often poor, and bisphosphonates may be contraindicated in patients with alcoholic liver disease and varices. The emergence of newer therapeutic options may facilitate controlled prospective studies of the role of parenteral agents in providing protection against both primary and secondary osteoporotic fractures among patients with alcohol abuse.

PMID: 23893347

See also PubMed

• Magnesium and vitamin D Alcohol uses up Magnesium, which is needed for bone strength
• Osteopenia in alcoholics: effect of alcohol abstinence.
• Alcoholic myopathy: vitamin D deficiency is related to muscle fibre atrophy in a murine model. May 2012

New York Times Overview of Alcohol and Health - Dec 2015 (nothing about vitamin D)

Alcohol’s Effect on Health: What the Science Says

• Nice review of many studies over the past 25 years. including Randomized Controlled Trials
• "Moderate consumption of alcohol is generally safe, as long as it doesn't lead to abuse, and may even be healthful for some people"
• "Synthesizing all this, there seems to be a sizable amount of evidence that moderate alcohol consumption is associated with decreased rates of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and death. It also seems to be associated with increased rates, perhaps to a lesser extent, of some cancers, especially breast cancer, as well as some other diseases or conditions. The gains from improved cardiovascular disease deaths seem to outweigh all of the losses in other diseases combined. The most recent report of the U.S.D.A. Scientific Advisory Panel agrees with that assessment."

Huge variation in average daily alcohol consumption - Washington Post, Dec 2015 (nothing about Vitamin D)

Americans are drinking themselves to death at record rates