Based on a new study that disputes earlier research findings, drinking any amount of alcohol is increased by your risk of dementia.
Some studies show that a light drink, such as less than seven drinks a week, may be more neuroprotective than any alcohol. However, these studies focused on the elderly and did not distinguish between former drinkers and lifelong tasteless, so the results could hide, the authors of the study said.
In a new study published on Tuesday, the researchers analyzed how certain genes associated with alcohol can affect the use of alcoholic beverages affect the brain.
“The results of genetic analysis (showed) that even a small amount of alcohol can increase the risk of dementia,” said Ana Topiwala, a senior clinical investigator at the Department of Psychiatry at Oxford University of Oxford, UK.
“This is the biggest study of this topic, and the combination of observation and genetic analysis was the main one,” Topiwala said by email.
Genetic analysis, called Mendel’s coincidence, has a lower risk to introduce a misleading or “false” variable to explain the connection of alcohol dementia, Topiwala said.
Mendel’s coincidence also reduces the likelihood of reverse causation, such as dementia processes that influence the drink, not the other way around, can also assess the accumulative effect of alcohol consumption on the person’s life, Topiwala said. However, monitoring studies tend to capture the image of medium to late life habits and depend on the entity’s cancellation, which may not be accurate.
“This is a rather complex study that provides some, but not the final evidence that alcohol can damage the brain, despite how much consumed,” said a neurologist dr. Richard Isaacson, Director of Research of the Florida Institute of Neurodegenerative Diseases. Isaacson, who performs cognitive improvement people who are genetically threatened with the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, did not participate in a new study.
“In my clinic, we tell people with APOE4’s genetic variant, which is the most common genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease that drinking alcohol is the best drink,” he said email. In the letter.
But for people with less genetic risk of Alzheimer, it often depends on “when” and “how” people drink, Isaacson added. For example, he said two drinks at bedtime on an empty stomach for several nights would have a more harmful effect on brain health compared to one drink several times a week with an early dinner.
When you drink, you can affect how alcohol affects your body, says neurologist dr. Richard Isaacson. – Skynesher/E+/Getty images
The rising relationship between alcohol and dementia
The new study addressed almost 560,000 people who participated in the UK Biobank, a longitudinal study involving participants from England, Scotland and Wales, and US million veteran programs or MVPs included in European, African and Latin American ancestors.
In that observed part of the study, people provided independent reports of how much they drank, and researchers compared alcohol consumption to their risk of dementia over time.
“In an independent study, people who reported that they were consuming a small amount of alcohol (less than 7 a week) had a lower risk than heavy drinkers (more than 40 drinks a week),” said Tara Spires-Jones, Director of the Discovery University of Edinburgh Edinburg.
“Interestingly, in this part of the study, not drinkers and people who reported they never drink, actually had a similar risk of dementia for people who drank strongly,” said Spires-Jones, who is also the leader of the London UK Dementia Research Institute. She did not participate in the study.
The study then examined the genetics of 2.4 million people in 45 dementia studies and compared the genetic markers associated with alcohol consumption throughout life.
Higher genetic risk was associated with increased risk of dementia, and in the study, as the risk of dementia increases, alcohol consumption increases.
“There is a 15% higher risk of dementia for 3 drinks per week compared to 1 drink per week in a lifetime,” Topiwala said.
In addition, according to the study, doubling the genetic risk of alcohol dependence was associated with an increased risk of dementia 16%.
“No part of the study can convince that alcohol consumption directly causes dementia,” said Spires-Jones. “However, this increases a wealth of similar data showing associations between alcohol consumption and increased risk of dementia, and the main work of neuroscience has shown that alcohol is directly toxic to the neurons of the brain.”
Inhale the weekly Living Well round, made simple. Sign up for a CNN life, but a better newsletter to get information and tools to improve your well -being.
To get more CNN news and newsletters, create an account on cnn.com