Light-to-moderate drinking is associated with harm to the brain. A link between drinking and reduced brain volume was found by analyzing data from more than 36,000 adults who drank less than one alcohol unit a day.
Going from one to two drinks a day was linked to changes in the brain equivalent to aging two years according to the research. Heavy drinking was associated with a higher toll. Heavy drinking and a bad relationship are clear from the science. Alterations in brain structure and size are associated with cognitive impairments in people who drink a lot.
A few beers or glasses of wine a week may not seem like much, but according to a new study, alcohol consumption even at levels most would consider modest may carry risks to the brain. An analysis of data from more than 36,000 adults, led by a team from the University of Pennsylvania, found that light-to-moderate alcohol consumption was associated with reductions in overall brain volume.
The higher the level of alcohol consumption, the stronger the link grew. In 50-year-olds, if you drink two units of alcohol a day, compared to half a beer, there will be changes in the brain equivalent to aging two years. It took three and a half years to go from two to three alcohol units. The findings were reported in the journal.
The fact that we have such a large sample size allows us to find subtle patterns, even between drinking the equivalent of half a beer and one beer a day, according to a corresponding author on the study. He collaborated with other researchers, including a co-corresponding author and a Perelman School of Medicine colleague.
The Penn Center for Studies of Addiction says that the findings are different from the guidelines for safe drinking limits.
There is a link between drinking and brain health. Moderate levels of alcohol consumption may not have an impact, or even that light drinking could benefit the brain in older adults, even though there is strong evidence that heavy drinking causes changes in brain structure.
The power of large datasets was not present in these earlier investigations. The UK Biobank contains genetic and medical information from half a million British middle-aged and older adults. The current study used data from the Biobank to calculate white and gray matter volume in different regions of the brain from more than 36,000 adults.
Nave says that having this dataset is like having a microscope or a telescope with a more powerful lens.
It was important to control for variables that could affect the relationship between drinking and the brain. The team controlled for age, height, handedness, sex, smoking status, socioeconomic status, genetic ancestry, and county of residence. The brain-volume data was corrected.
The volunteer participants in the Biobank were asked about their alcohol consumption levels, from complete abstention to an average of four or more alcohol units a day. The gray and white matter volume that might otherwise be predicted by the individual's other characteristics was reduced when the researchers grouped the participants by average-consumption levels.
Going from zero to one alcohol unit did not make a difference in brain volume, but going from one to two or three units a day did make a difference in gray and white matter.
The more you drink, the worse it gets.
The associations remained even after removing heavy drinkers from the analyses. The scientists found that the lower brain volume was not specific to one brain region.
The researchers compared the reductions in brain size associated with drinking to the reductions in brain size associated with aging. Their modeling shows that each additional alcohol unit consumed was reflected in a greater aging effect in the brain. Going from zero to a daily average of one alcohol unit was associated with the equivalent of a half a year of aging.
The authors hope to use the UK Biobank and other large datasets to answer additional questions related to alcohol use.
They would like to be able to pin down causality, which may be possible with new longitudinal data that are following young people as they age.
We may be able to look at these effects over time, along with genetics.
The researchers say the findings may prompt drinkers to rethink how much they drink.
The effect of drinking on the brain is exponential, and one additional drink in a day could have more of an impact than any of the previous drinks. That means that cutting back on that final drink of the night might have a big effect on brain aging.
Nave says that the people who can benefit the most from drinking less are the people who are already drinking.
Reagan R. Wetherill is a research assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania.
The Benjamin Rush Professor in Psychiatry and director of the Penn Center for Studies of Addiction is Henry R. Kranzler.
The Wharton Neuroscience Initiative at Penn has an assistant professor named Gideon Nave.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison has an assistant professor of marketing.
The paper was co-corresponding by four authors, including the first author, Daviet.
The other co-authors were Nathaniel Spilka, Kanchana Jagannathan, G&F6;khan Aydogan, and Philipp D. Koellinger of the University of Wisconsin.
The study was supported by the European Research Council, National Science Foundation, and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
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