For some time, doctors have known that alcohol abuse weakens bones and decreases bone mass, but now a study has shows that increased alcohol use interferes with genes needed for bone health.

Researchers at the Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine in Chicago injected rats with alcohol which would be equal to three days of binge drinking or four weeks of chronic alcohol abuse in humans and found that genes necessary for bone health had been compromised.

Alcohol caused some genes to have an increase in RNA and others to have a decrease, which disrupts certain signaling pathways necessary for maintaining bone health and density.

Scientists say the findings, published in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research may eventually help establish health resources to help prevent bone loss in people with alcoholism as well as those suffering from osteoporosis.

The National Institutes of Health warn that even alcohol abuse at a young age may affect bone health as one gets older. According to the NIH, animal studies suggest that the damage done to bones during early chronic alcohol exposure does not improve even if alcohol use is stopped.