Drinking Tequila Is Good For Your Bones Says New Study

Just in time for Cinco De Mayo comes news that tequila is actually good for your bones. According to Science Daily, researchers at the Center for Research and Advanced Studies (Cinvestav) uncovered the link between blue agave and osteoporosis prevention:

Apart from being the raw material for making a very traditional drink in Mexico, the blue variety of the Agave tequilana has substances capable of improving the absorption of calcium and magnesium, essential minerals to maintain bone health.
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Dr. Mercedes López, leader of the project, states that “the consumption of fructans contained in the agave, in collaboration with adequate intestinal microbiota, promotes the formation of new bone, even with the presence of osteoporosis.”

The benefits from the substances in tequila appear to be two-fold, offering both prevention and a way to battle back against bone density loss:

The procedure consisted of removing the ovaries from female mice in order to induce osteoporosis. The next step was to administer agave fructans and eight weeks later a femur sample was taken to measure the absorption of minerals and osteocalcin, protein that indicates the production of new bone.
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“It was found that mice that consumed this fructans synthesized nearly 50 percent more of such protein, in addition that the diameter of their bones was higher compared with the subjects which were not supplied with derivatives of the agave” she reports.

There is one important caveat you should consider before you order that third Margarita — the study was dependent upon the participants possessing a healthy “intestinal microbiota,” so make sure the Margaritas you’re drinking aren’t loaded up with high fructose corn syrup. Read more at Science Daily!