This is the conclusion reached by scientists from the US universities of Pennsylvania and Wisconsin-Madison. It is well known that chronic excessive alcohol abuse is harmful to health. It has been linked to cardiovascular disease, cancer, accelerated aging, and changes in brain structure and connectivity. However, the findings so far are conflicting as to whether light to moderate alcohol consumption can have similar negative consequences.
Scientists led by the US Universities of Pennsylvania and Wisconsin-Madison studied this in a huge sample of 36,678 adults from the UK Biobank, a large collection of health data from around half a million people in Great Britain.
According to the team, which also includes neuroeconomist Gökhan Aydogan from the University of Zurich, the negative associations between alcohol consumption and brain structure are evident in people who consume on average only one to two alcohol units per day and become stronger with increasing alcohol consumption. In the study, a pint of beer (about half a liter) or a large glass of wine (1.75 deciliters) counted as two alcohol units.
Exponential Effects
“There is some evidence that the effects of alcohol consumption on the brain are exponential,” said lead author Remi Daviet of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “So one extra drink a day could have a greater impact than all the previous ones that day.” So skipping the last drink of the night could have a big impact on brain aging.
In fact, researchers estimate that the brain aging from one unit of alcohol a day is around a year compared to no alcohol at all. Four alcoholic drinks already correspond to an aging of more than ten years.
However, the authors emphasize that the study design was not designed to establish a causal connection between alcohol consumption and changes in brain structure, i.e. to prove a cause-effect relationship. Further studies on this would therefore be of great interest.
Source: Nachrichten
