A new study suggests that heavy alcohol drinking can lead to earlier memory loss in men.
Severine Sabia, lead author of the study and a research associate in the department of epidemiology and public health at University College London, and his colleagues have studied data from over 5,000 men and 2,000 women at their midlife to know the impact of drinking on the brain aging before old age.
They discovered that middle-aged men who consume more than 2.5 alcoholic beverages every day during their midlife were more prone to experience earlier memory loss and decline in cognitive functions six years earlier than those who drink lesser or none at all. However, effects of it in women could not be accurately assessed because there were not enough female participants in the research.
A decade prior to the start of the study, alcohol consumption of the participants were assessed for three times. During the study, the participants' memory and decision-making skills were tested for three times. The first one was taken when the participants were at an average age of 56.
A person's memory and decision-making or executive skills is responsible for his attention and reasoning skills.
"Heavy alcohol consumption is known to be detrimental for health, so the results were not surprising . . . they just add that [it's] also detrimental for the brain and the effects can be observed as [early] as 55 years old," Sabia told Healthday.
"There is no need to be an alcoholic to see a detrimental effect of heavy alcohol consumption on cognition [thinking skills]," he added.
After the study, the researchers found no distinct difference in the cognitive functions between the men who consume alcohol lightly or moderately and the men who didn't drink alcohol. However, a mental decline of up to six years earlier was noted in those who drink alcohol heavily.
According to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, "moderate alcohol consumption is defined as having up to 1 drink per day for women and up to 2 drinks per day for men. This definition is referring to the amount consumed on any single day and is not intended as an average over several days."
The study was published in the Jan. 15 issue of Neurology.
