A drink, make that two, for a tight grip

Science could serve no better purpose. First, assess the problem and that is

"Muscle weakness is consistently reported as an independent risk factor for high mortality in older adults, and is an important public health problem."

Roger. That is bad indeed. How can we solve this old age affliction? A scientific hypothesis could sure help. Let's think a little outside the box.

"We hypothesized that alcohol consumption is associated with muscle strength."

Oh! Sounds like a brazen hypothesis but, hey, let's go for it because 'weird' is my middle name. OK, admitted there is something to it in that in decades back brandy was used for doping in pro cycling. Remember Tom Simpson?

"To confirm this hypothesis, we investigated whether alcohol consumption is associated with HGS (Hand Grip Strength), which is a useful indicator of sarcopenia, among Japanese community dwelling persons."

Let's go for it. I'd do anything for a tipple. What methods do you suggest?

"The present study included 764 men aged 70 (69-70) years and 955 women aged 70 (69-70) years from a rural village. Daily alcohol consumption was measured using the Japanese liquor unit in which a unit corresponds to 22.9 g of ethanol, and the participants were classified into never drinkers, occasional drinkers, daily light drinkers (1e2 units/day), and daily moderate drinkers (2-3 units/day)."

22.9 g of ethanol sounds terriffic. I am all in. Too bad you did not test heavy drinkers. Anyway, I am dying to learn about the results. As a man I am certainly aware about the importance of Hand Grip Strength.

Results: 

HGS were significantly correlated with age in both men and women. HGS increased significantly with increased daily alcohol consumption in both genders, and in men HGS in daily moderate drinkers were significantly greater than those in never, occasional, and daily light drinkers. In women, HGS in daily light and moderate drinkers were significantly greater than those in never drinkers. In men, Multivariate-adjusted HGS were significantly greater in daily light {mean: 33.4 (95% confidence interval: 32.3-34.5) kg} and moderate drinkers {33.6 (32.8-34.0) kg} than in never drinkers {31.7 (30.8-32.7) kg}, and in women multivariate-adjusted HGS in occasional drinkers {21.5 (21.0-22.1) kg} was significantly greater in never drinkers {20.7 (20.5-21.0) kg}. 

Conclusion: 

These results suggest that alcohol consumption may have a protective role in aging associated decline in muscle strength in community-dwelling persons.

In case you are not totally liquored up at this point, here is the study and its authors. I love the Japanese even more now.

Alcohol Consumption is Positively Associated with Handgrip Strength Among Japanese Community-dwelling Middle-aged and Elderly Persons 

Ryuichi Kawamoto*, Daisuke Ninomiya, Kensuke Senzaki, Teru Kumagi

Department of Community Medicine, Ehime University Graduate School of Medicine, Ehime 791-0295, Japan

Hope it does not conflict with Goodhart’s law, which states: When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.

Cheers!