Not just a pretty face (Picture: Getty)

For many, tequila is a bringer of joy.

How to make a Pumpkin Spice Latte at home

And according to new research, it could be giving us something else – bone health.

Scientists at the Center for Research and Advanced Studies (Cinvestav) in Mexico have identified substances in the tequila plant (yep, it comes from a plant – you learn something new every day) that enhance the absorption of calcium in the body.

Could this be good enws for osteoporosis sufferers?(Picture: Getty)

According to Science Daily, a blue variety of the agave tequilana plant – the one tequila is made from – contains substances that are able to improve one’s absorption of calcium and magnesium, both of which contribute to maintaining good bone health.




And that’s even if you have osteoporosis, a condition which weakens the bones.

Now you know how to pick between tequila and Sambuca (Picture: Getty)

To find this out, researchers induced osteoporosis in female mice before giving them agave fructans – polymers of fructose molecules found in the plant.

Eight weeks later, they took samples to measure the mice’s absorption of minerals and presence of osteocalcin, a protein that signifies the production of new bone.

Drink up (Picture: Getty)

And it turned out mice who consumed those plant polymers not only synthesized almost 50% more of that bone-producing protein, but that the diameter of their bones was higher than mice that weren’t given those polymers.

Dr. Mercedes López, who lead the project, concluded that ‘the consumption of fructans contained in the agave, in collaboration with adequate intestinal micriobiota, promotes the formation of new bone, even with the presence of osteoporosis’.

So hey, shotting tequila isn’t quite the same as extracting stuff from the plant it originally comes from, but we’ll take any excuse.

MORE: This cloud rains actual drops of tequila and it’s completely free

MORE: The 10 best tequilas to drink this Day Of The Dead

MORE: Watch our Orange Paloma recipe video to see how to make a top tequila cocktail

MORE: Is my booze ageing me? The red wines that contain the most ‘elixir of youth’

MORE: As someone who suffered from anorexia, I think it’s great that France is banning unhealthy models

Advertisement Advertisement