There is no lack of studies pointing to the detrimental effects of alcohol consumption. New research adds more weight, saying that even a moderate amount of alcohol might prove dangerous for aging brains.
According to the study, moderate drinkers were more likely to develop brain changes that could lead to eventual memory loss, compared to light or non-drinkers, USA Today reports. Moderate drinkers were also more likely to make errors on a language test, though not on other cognitive tests.
The research, which was conducted in the United Kingdom, defined moderate drinking as equal to 8 to 12 small glasses of wine, bottles of beer, or shots of liquor each week in the United States.
Anya Topiwala, clinical lecturer in psychiatry at the University of Oxford and lead author on the study, said,
Many people drink this way.
The results of the study states that even moderate drinking can do the human body harm. The researchers did not look at heavy or abusive drinking, because Topiwala says that is already firmly established with regards to brain damage and dementia.
Topiwala and colleagues analyzed 30 years of records from 527 British civil servants who are participating in a long-term health study. The participants, most of whom are white, middle-class men, took short cognitive tests and wrote down their drinking histories beginning at an average age of 43.
The participants undertook brain scans, repeated the cognitive tests and completed more extensive memory and thinking tests.
The results showed that light, moderate and non-drinkers had similar performances when they were matched for age, sex, education, social class, physical activity, smoking and so on.
But moderate drinkers showed faster declines in a language fluency test, which asked participants to name as many words as they could that began with a particular letter in just one minute. The brains scans also showed differences, with the heaviest drinkers showing a clear shrinkage in the hippocampus. Moderate drinkers were also three times more likely than non-drinkers to exhibit the same shrinkage, the study says.
The researchers do admit that the study is observational, and there might be other factors involved in the frequent drinkers’ brain changes. Topiwala stressed, “I wouldn’t recommend light to moderate drinking as a strategy to avoid cognitive decline.” It’s not clear at this point how much drinking might be safe for the brain.
The study was published in BMJ.
