No more lame excuses: Moderate, heavy drinking decreases risk of dementia

A new study has found that moderate and heavy drinkers may not suffer dementia even when they turn 85. The study was recently published by a group of researchers from the University of California San Diego School of Medicine.

The research included 1, 344 adults as their sample population. These adults are from Rancho Bernardo, an area in California’s North County and they are middle-class white Men And Women. The University officials said that the participants also had at least some college education.

These individuals were assessed for 29 years and they were checked by the researchers every four years since it is the standard period for dementia screening.

The study was published for the August issue of “Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.”

More details on the research

Moderate drinkers are those who consume up to one alcoholic beverage in a day. Heavy drinkers, on the other hand, are those who consume up to three alcoholic beverages on a daily basis.

For the moderate drinking, women of any age were observed but for men, the researchers observed those aged 65 and above. For heavy drinking, the researchers observed adult women and 65 and older for the men. Men, who are below 65 years old, were also studied if they consumed four drinks in a day.

According to Global News, the senior author of the study, Lind McEvoy, said that the study is unique because they considered men and women’s cognitive health at late age and found out that alcohol consumption is linked to reduced mortality rate as well as remaining cognitively healthy when one is older.

Lead author, Erin Richard, said that moderate drinking is linked to a healthy lifestyle. For example, they found out that those who drink wine have higher income and educational attainment. Wine drinkers also showed lower smoking and mental illness rates, Washington Examiner reported.

Excessive drinkers very few in the study

If one consumes more than four drinks in a day, he or she is considered as an excessive drinker.

According to the researchers, there were very few participants who were labeled as excessive drinkers so they did not find out what the effects are in terms of longevity and its effect with regard to the risk of developing dementia by the age of 85.

The researchers reminded that their conclusions are not recommendations that everyone should drink since some people have conditions that are worsened when they drink alcohol.