According to the study, there is no safe amount of alcohol that is beneficial for cognitive function. In fact, it was found that even light to moderate alcohol consumption can cause the brain to age faster than normal.
Previous research has even shown that frequent alcohol consumers have changes in the structure and size of their brain, which is associated with problems with thinking and memory.
In their latest study, however, researchers analyzed data drawn from the British Life Bank on more than 36,000 British adults and found that even a few glasses of beer or wine are associated with shrinking brain volume. In fact, as the researchers point out, the higher the alcohol consumption, the stronger the link to brain aging.
As an example, the researchers pointed out that as the average alcohol consumption among 50-year-olds increased from one unit of alcohol per day - i.e. half a beer - to two units - i.e. a glass of beer or a glass of wine - relative changes in the brain equivalent to two years of aging were recorded. Going from two units of alcohol to three, for the same age, was to age by 3.5 years.
"The large sample they have available allows us to find subtle patterns, even between the equivalence of half to one beer a day," stressed Gideon Nave, author of the study from the University of Pennsylvania.
Contrasting the findings with scientific and government policies on safe limits stands the study's other author, Dr. Henry Kranzler, director at the university's Center for Research on Addictions. "For example, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism recommendations, women consume no more than one glass per day, while the allowable limits for men are twice that amount, an amount that exceeds the study's drinking levels associated with brain tumor reduction," he said."
According to the researchers, these findings may lead people to reconsider the amounts of alcohol they consume.
[BR][BR]"There is evidence that the effect of alcohol consumption on the brain is exponential," said Remi Daviet, from the University of Wisconsin, which means that "the last drink of the night can have a big effect on brain aging."
In conclusion, however, the researchers said that a larger study would provide more specific results on alcohol and the brain.
Source.gr
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