If you’re a fan of tequila we’ve got good news for you.
According to new research, tequila can help boost bone health.
Mexican scientists have discovered a substance in the tequila plant that helps boost the absorption of calcium.
The blue variety of the Agave tequilana plant also helps improves magnesium absorption – both compounds are essential for bone health.
Mercedes Lopez, from the Center for Research and Advanced Studies in Mexico, said: “The consumption of fructans contained in the agave [plant], in collaboration with adequate intestinal micriobiota, promotes the formation of new bone, even with the presence of osteoporosis.”
The research team tested the theory on mice with osteoporosis – a condition that weakens bones leaving them fragile and prone to breaking.
After eight weeks of taking the fructans from the tequila plant a bone sample was taken from the mice, according to Science Daily.
It was then tested for a protein that indicates the production of new bone.
The fructans work by sitting in the gut where they turn into fatty acids.
They are then able to catch minerals and transport them to cells, helping bones regenerate.
Lopez added: “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.
“This way, we have a second chance to take advantage of the nutrients that were no longer available to the body.
“However, it is very important that people have a healthy intestinal microbiome because only then it is possible that bacteria ferment fructans to transform them into fatty acids.”
The scientists hope the discovery will lead to a possible new treatment for osteoporosis, which affects nearly 200 million people worldwide.