Niamh Shackleton
Some studies have suggested that moderate drinking might actually prevent dementia, but this 2024 study argued otherwise.
It's been said that there's been a 'J-shaped' relationship between alcohol consumption and dementia risk, meaning that non-drinkers and heavy drinkers have a higher risk of developing dementia in comparison to light to moderate drinkers.
In the UK, moderate drinking is classed as around 14 units a week, while in the US this is broken down to women having one alcoholic drink a day while men can have two to class themselves as a 'moderate' drinker, according to the CDC.
As to why some studies have suggested that light alcohol consumption can lower a person's risks of developing dementia, it comes down to the other supposed health benefits a low alcohol intake can have on a person - e.g the idea that a glass of red wine a day can improve cholesterol.
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But one 2024 study challenged this and found that there's no amount of alcohol that's 'safe' to drink when it comes to dementia in particular.
In a bid to clarify the relationship between booze and brain health, researchers analyzed data from the UK Biobank for 313,958 white, British drinkers. Participants were dementia-free between 2006 and 2010, and during this time frame the men recorded their drinking habits.
Fast forward to 2021 and it was recorded if any of the almost 314,000 participants had developed dementia.
Their results found something called 'abstainer bias', where former drinkers who quit due to existing health problems were grouped with lifelong non-drinkers which is why previous studies suggested a J-shaped curve, which is a graph curve drops down initially, then goes up.
"Our findings suggested that there was no safe level of alcohol consumption for dementia," the study concluded.
In the wake of the study's findings, Clifford Segil, DO, a neurologist at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica (who was not part of the study in question), highlighted how damaging booze can be on the brain.
"Alcohol is a central nervous system depressant drug which causes brain atrophy. Patients with dementia have baseline suppressed nervous system function with atrophy," he told Medical News Today.
Psychiatrist Ozan Toy further warned: "Alcohol can negatively impact the brain’s memory center known as the hippocampus by causing cell atrophy and by inhibiting the growth of new neurons via a process called neurogenesis.
"We also know that chronic alcohol use can lead to depletion of an important B-vitamin, thiamine, which is also really important for memory and cognition."