|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
By: George Citroner
A new study challenges long-held beliefs about alcohol and brain health, revealing a surprising finding: There may be no safe amount to drink if you want to protect your mind from dementia.
Researchers have uncovered evidence that the comforting notion that light to moderate drinking can provide cognitive benefits may not be true. The research directly links alcohol consumption to an increased risk of developing dementia.
Dementia Levels on Rise
Projected estimates indicate that worldwide, the number of people living with dementia could balloon from more than 57 million in 2019 to nearly 153 million by 2050. This trend points to an urgent need for effective prevention strategies, particularly as research continues to elucidate the complexities of known modifiable risk factors for the condition, such as alcohol consumption.
Research published this month in eClinicalMedicine found that increased predicted alcohol consumption based on genetic factors is positively linked with a greater risk of developing dementia among current drinkers.
The findings cast doubt on the idea that any level of alcohol consumption is safe for dementia prevention.
While heavy drinking is a well-established risk factor for dementia, whether there is a similar association between light-to-moderate alcohol consumption and dementia has remained a subject of debate.
Past studies often contained biases, such as “abstainer bias,” where non-drinkers tend to be compared with drinkers who may enjoy better health or cognitive function, skewing the results. These analyses sometimes didn’t account for cognitive decline occurring before the study or interactions with pre-existing health conditions.
Claire Sexton, Alzheimer’s Association senior director of scientific programs and outreach, told The Epoch Times that there remains some debate regarding the impact of light to moderate alcohol consumption.
“With some studies suggesting that, among adults at midlife and older, light to moderate drinking may be associated with lower risk of cognitive decline compared with not drinking, and others showing that moderate levels of alcohol may be associated with adverse brain outcomes, including lower hippocampal volumes,” she said.
Advanced Genetic Techniques
In this latest study, researchers examined data from the UK Biobank, examining nearly 314,000 white British adults who currently drink. They looked for any direct relationship between light-to-moderate alcohol consumption and dementia risk using advanced genetic techniques, specifically Mendelian randomization (MR), to lessen biases typical in observational studies. Specifically, MR refers to the use of genetic variation to address whether modifiable factors cause different outcomes, such as disease.
Participants provided information about their drinking habits, with researchers tracking dementia cases through hospital and death records over 13.2 years. The average alcohol consumption recorded was 13.6 units per week, with nearly half of the participants exceeding the UK’s recommended limit of 14 units per week.
Men reported higher consumption than women, averaging 20.2 units weekly compared to women’s 9.5 units. Interestingly, a greater proportion of women (68.6 percent) adhered to the recommended limits, compared to only 34.2 percent of men.
The researchers observed a J-shaped pattern in their analysis, where low levels of drinking (11.9 units per week) were linked with the lowest dementia risk. However, this risk increased at higher consumption levels, especially among men, who showed the lowest dementia risk at 16.8 units of alcohol per week.
While this J-shaped curve suggests a protective effect from moderate drinking, the study’s genetic analysis revealed a more nuanced reality.
Genetic Predisposition to Drinking
The findings indicated that individuals possessing genes associated with greater alcohol consumption were more likely to develop dementia, particularly women.
