We’ve read many learned studies over the years – decades – about the claimed dangers and benefits of alcohol. A few years back, they just about balanced each other out in the context of ‘social drinking’. But a new research report actually quantifies the physical damage booze does to your brain…
Even one drink a day has the power to shrink your brain.
And the effect is exponential the more you drink…
What they did
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania analysed data on 39,000 adult drinkers, relating alcohol consumption to brain mass.
They data-mined the massive UK Biobank, a dataset with genetic and medical information from half a million British middle-aged and older adults. Specifically, they studied brain MRIs to calculate white and gray matter volume in different regions of the brain.
“Having this dataset is like having a microscope or a telescope with a more powerful lens,” says Dr. Gideon Nave, corresponding author of the report. “You get a better resolution and start seeing patterns and associations you couldn’t before.”
What they found
The study report states: ” [Even] light-to-moderate alcohol consumption was associated with reductions in overall brain volume. […] As an example, in 50-year-olds, as average drinking among individuals increases from one alcohol unit (about half a beer) a day to two units (a pint of beer or a glass of wine) there are associated changes in the brain equivalent to aging two years. Going from two to three alcohol units at the same age was like aging three and a half years.”
“There is some evidence that the effect of drinking on the brain is exponential,” says report co-corresponding author Remi Daviet. “So, one additional drink in a day could have more of an impact than any of the previous drinks that day. That means that cutting back on that final drink of the night might have a big effect in terms of brain aging.”
The takeaway
“These findings contrast with scientific and governmental guidelines on safe drinking limits,” says Dr. Henry Kranzler, who directs the Penn Center for Studies of Addiction. “For example, although the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism recommends that women consume an average of no more than one drink per day, recommended limits for men are twice that, an amount that exceeds the consumption level associated in the study with decreased brain volume.”
The study team has further questions that future data mining exercises might shed light on. “This study looked at average consumption, but we’re curious whether drinking one beer a day is better than drinking none during the week and then seven on the weekend,” Nave says. “There’s some evidence that binge drinking is worse for the brain, but we haven’t looked closely at that yet.”
My take
This new study will alarm many ‘social drinkers’ who have heretofore assumed that a glass of wine a day at dinner, or a martini after work was harmless. Folks who push that ‘norm’ to two or more drinks a day are definitely asking for premature brain aging, according to the study findings. And if, as Daviet observes, ‘effect of drinking on the brain is exponential’, every additional drink is a ticket to premature senility.
Some will say that Nave, Daviet and company are alarmists, or at least being overcautious. I think the effects of alcohol on the brain are best gauged by the individual. How much do you drink? Have you noticed any decline in your mental sharpness, quickness or analytical capacity? Have folks around you noticed any change? Have you been paying more attention recently to those ‘brain supplement’ commercials?
Take a few minutes to consider the implications of the study we’re spotlighting today. You only get one brain. If it shrinks, it doesn’t grow back. Think before you pour…
~ Maggie J.