Cognitive illnesses are some of the scariest ones to happen to humans, as the loss of our cognitive functions often means that we are unable to take care of ourselves and interact with the world in a meaningful way. This is why it is important to do as much as we can to prevent and avoid them, but there are some things that are left to chance. One small thing that we can do to avoid cognitive function decline, especially dementia, is to not consume alcohol regularly.
This is not a surprise, regular alcohol consumption has been linked to plenty of cardio vascular diseases and memory issues, but the latest research is even more damaging. The latest papers suggest that a ‘chronic drinking approach’ can heavily influence the risk of a person suffering from dementia later on in life.
How alcohol consumption correlates with dementia and Alzheimer’s
The study we are referencing is a 2023 peer-reviewed study conducted by Atrium Health, which explored the connection between alcohol use and neurodegenerative decline using a long-term testing method. Over a 10-week period, mice were given access to both water and alcohol to observe consumption patterns and the researchers focused on how alcohol intake might influence the development of Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia. Their findings indicated that even relatively low levels of alcohol were sufficient to speed up the shrinking of brain tissue.
Associate Professor Shannon Macauley, of Wake Forest University School of Medicine stated reviewing the findings that “These findings suggest alcohol might accelerate the pathological cascade of Alzheimer’s disease in its early stages. These preclinical findings suggest that even moderate consumption of alcohol can result in brain injury. Alcohol consumption may be a modifiable risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.”
Another study, this one conducted in 2024 by scientists at Oxford University found that alcohol is the leading cause of “weakening cognitive health and potentially worsening the risk of Alzheimer’s.” they found this by analyzing the brain scans of 40,000 study subjects.
Professor Gwenaëlle Douaud, who led the study concluded “We know that a constellation of brain regions degenerates earlier in ageing, and in this new study we have shown that these specific parts of the brain are most vulnerable to diabetes, traffic-related air pollution − increasingly a major player in dementia − and alcohol, of all the common risk factors for dementia. We have found that several variations in the genome influence this brain network, and they are implicated in cardiovascular deaths, schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, as well as with the two antigens of a little-known blood group, the elusive XG antigen system, which was an entirely new and unexpected finding.”
Recommendations over drinking have been changing over the years, the NHS now advises to limit consumption to 14 ‘units’ of alcohol per week, spread over three or more days. In practical terms, six medium (175ml) glasses of wine, or six pints of 4% beer, but even this might be excessive for some as the guidelines are based on the body’s ability to process alcohol.
As the NHS explains “Units are a simple way of expressing the quantity of pure alcohol in a drink. One unit equals 10ml or 8g of pure alcohol, which is around the amount of alcohol the average adult can process in an hour. This means that within an hour there should be, in theory, little or no alcohol left in the blood of an adult, although this will vary from person to person. The number of units in a drink is based on the size of the drink, as well as its alcohol strength. For example, a pint of strong lager contains three units of alcohol, whereas the same volume of lower-strength lager has just over two units. Knowing your units will help you stay in control of your drinking.”