Drinking eight glasses of wine or pints of beer a week or more can dramatically increase your chances of developing memory-robbing dementia, a new study has suggested.
Brazilian researchers discovered that this amount of booze doubles the risk of a type of brain damage that is often a precursor to the disease.
Even if dementia doesn’t develop, the damage alone can cause problems with memory and thinking in older age.
The study, of 1781 people, found those who drank more than eight alcoholic beverages a week also died an average of 13 years earlier than those who never drank.
Recent polls suggest that the average Briton drinks roughly 18 units of alcohol a week, equivalent to around six pints of 5.2 per cent beer every week, or six large glasses of wine.
Other Government research suggests around one in five people in the UK drink alcohol on at least five days out of the week, on average.
‘Our research shows that heavy alcohol consumption is damaging to the brain, which can lead to memory and thinking problems,’ the researchers, from the University of Sao Paulo Medical School, said.
The study involved brain autopsies of 1,781 people who had an average age of 75 when they died.
Researchers found that, after accounting for other factors linked to brain health, drinking eight pints at week doubled dementia risk
The research team examined brain tissue to look for signs of brain injury, including tangles of a protein called tau and thickening of arteries in the brain, called hyaline arteriolosclerosis.
Both are associated with increased dementia risk; tau tangles disrupt the connection between brain cells, while hyaline arteriolosclerosis makes it harder for blood to travel to areas of the brain, leading to vascular dementia.
They also measured brain weight and the height of each participant, while family members answered questions about the participants’ alcohol consumption.
The research team then divided the participants into four groups: 965 people who never drank, 319 ‘moderate drinkers’ who had seven or fewer drinks per week; 129 ‘heavy drinker’ who had eight or more drinks per week; and 368 former heavy drinkers.
One drink was defined as containing roughly two units of alcohol — such as a glass of wine or pint of beer.
Results showed that between 45 and 50 per cent of those who were moderate, heavy or former heavy drinkers had signs of hyaline arteriolosclerosis in their brain.
In comparison, 40 per cent of the never-drinkers showed signs of the damage.
However, after adjusting for factors that could affect brain health such as smoking status, level of physical activity and age of death, heavy drinkers had 133 per cent higher odds of the arteriolosclerosis, compared to those who never drank.
Official data has shown the UK actually ranks middle of the pack for alcohol consumption, behind France and Germany
Former heavy drinkers were 89 per cent more likely to show signs of the blood vessel damage, and moderate drinkers, 60 per cent.
The research team also found heavy and former heavy drinkers were between 30 and 40 per cent more likely to develop tau tangles, compared to teetotal participants.
Former heavy drinking was also associated with a lower brain mass ratio, a smaller proportion of brain mass compared to body mass, and worse cognitive abilities.
Writing in the journal Neurology, the research team say their findings don’t prove that heavy drinking causes brain injury, but they do show an association.
Dr Justo added: ‘Heavy alcohol consumption is a major global health concern linked to increased health problems and death.
Understanding these effects is crucial for public health awareness and continuing to implement preventive measures to reduce heavy drinking.’
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