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Heavy drinkers and teetotalers alike may have heightened dementia risk

By Lisa Rapaport

 

A glass of wine is pictured in Baulers, Belgium July 6, 2018. REUTERS/Yves Herman

 

(Reuters Health) - Middle-aged adults who avoid alcohol altogether, and those who consume the equivalent of seven glasses of wine or more a week are both more likely than light drinkers to develop dementia in their later years, a long-term study suggests.

 

With heavy drinking, the increased risk of dementia may be directly caused by nutritional deficits and the toxic effects of alcohol in the brain, and indirectly caused by disorders that are common among heavy drinkers like diabetes, high blood pressure and stroke, said lead study author Severine Sabia of Paris-Saclay University in France and University College London in the UK.

 

Abstinence is also associated with a higher likelihood of having heart disease or diabetes, which explains part of the increased dementia risk for teetotalers, the study found. Abstinence may also be tied to dementia in people who stopped drinking due to misuse or addiction, Sabia said by email.

 

"Findings on abstainers should not motivate people who do not drink to start drinking alcohol due to the adverse effects of alcohol on mortality, cirrhosis of the liver and cancer," Sabia noted. "In addition, given the detrimental effect of alcohol for several health outcomes, people who drink in an excessive manner should be encouraged to reduce their alcohol consumption."

 

Globally, an estimated 3.3 million people a year die as a result of alcohol misuse, accounting for about 6 percent of all deaths, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

 

For the study, Sabia's team used a standard UK measurement, units of alcohol, where each unit contains 8 grams of pure alcohol. So a medium glass of wine (175 ml or about 6 oz) would contain about 2 units of alcohol, half an imperial pint (9.6 fluid ounces) of beer would contain 1 to 3 units of alcohol, depending on its strength, and a standard measure (25 ml or about 1 oz) of spirits would equal one unit of alcohol.

 

The researchers followed 9,087 adults participating in a long-term study in the UK for an average of 23 years with five assessments of alcohol consumption between 1985 and 2004. They also looked at data from questionnaires to assess problem drinking and at medical records of alcohol-related diseases between 1991 and 2017.

 

During the study, 397 people developed dementia, at an average age of 76, the study team reports in The BMJ.

 

Compared with people who had 1 to 14 units of alcohol a week in middle age, teetotalers were 47 percent more likely to develop dementia.

 

Among people having more than 14 units a week, each 7-unit increase in alcohol consumption was associated with a 17 percent increase in the risk of dementia.

 

The study also looked at how any shifts in drinking patterns after middle age might impact the risk of dementia, and they found the lowest risk among people who consistently consumed 1 to 14 units of alcohol a week.

 

Compared to these consistent light-to-moderate drinkers, people who maintained long-term abstinence were 74 percent more likely to develop dementia. Those who kept up a heavy drinking habit were 40 percent more likely to develop dementia. When people cut back after middle age, they were 55 percent more likely than the consistent occasional or moderate drinkers to develop dementia.

 

The study wasn't designed to prove whether or how drinking habits might impact the development of dementia.

 

However, the results suggest that guidelines in many countries that set the bar for problem drinking at much higher than 14 units a week may need to be revised to account for the potential dementia risk, the study authors conclude.

 

"The study provides important support for another downside to heavy alcohol use," said Dr. Rebecca Gottesman of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore.

 

"Regarding the other end of the spectrum, several other studies have suggested that very modest alcohol consumption may be protective from cardiovascular disease, and this study further supports that idea, but I don't think we understand enough about how it might do so," Gottesman, who wasn't involved in the study, said by email.

 

SOURCE: https://bit.ly/2MI2zUy The BMJ, online August 1, 2018.

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-09-27

[worgeordie]

So you mean everyone

regards Worgeordie

[Esso49]

Subjects like this send me crazy

[lannarebirth]

It is not an argument to abstain from drinking, if one might expect the same outcome from abstention.

[kannot]

what a relief...............I only drink battery acid

[kannot]

21 minutes ago, Esso49 said:

Subjects like this send me crazy

stop drinking it  up then????

[kannot]

59 minutes ago, webfact said:

Compared with people who had 1 to 14 units of alcohol a week in middle age, teetotalers were 47 percent more likely to develop dementia

ill  pass  the  info on to my 20  cups  a day of tea Mother.............aged 90

[marko kok prong]

Ye Gods,so even if you live like a monk your doomed.

[edwinchester]

3 hours ago, kannot said:

what a relief...............I only drink battery acid

Likely to be terminal.

[Bluespunk]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

Abstinence is also associated with a higher likelihood of having heart disease or diabetes, which explains part of the increased dementia risk for teetotalers, the study found. Abstinence may also be tied to dementia in people who stopped drinking due to misuse or addiction, Sabia said by email.

So not teetotalers then, but recovering addicts or people with conditions adversely affected by alcohol are in danger.

 

Quelle surprise.

Edited September 27, 2018 by Bluespunk

[Jonmarleesco]

Can't bloody win, can you? Perhaps it's past time these researchers were put out to grass. 

[Jonmarleesco]

4 hours ago, worgeordie said:

So you mean everyone

regards Worgeordie

I get the distinct impression they don't know what they mean. 

[radiochaser]

1 hour ago, edwinchester said:

Likely to be terminal.

I am sure there is both a positive and a negative side to this. 

[natway09]

I would consider 7 glasses of wine a week to be a very light drinker.

Problem solved with terminology

[connda]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

Heavy drinkers and teetotalers alike may have heightened dementia risk

Damned if you do; damned if you don't.

[Thingamabob]

Who was paid what by whom to come up with this ?

[kannot]

8 hours ago, marko kok prong said:

Ye Gods,so even if you live like a monk your doomed.

dont be stupid , youll get a private  jet and  gullible  millions  will donate to  you, all  u need  to do is invent some mumbo jumbo  crap then bastardise it and hey presto........its  like   winning the  lotto everyday

[Scott]

Troll post removed.

 

[nausea]

Old age diseases are mostly genetic, you're past your sell by date and evolution doesn't give a monkey's. If you are genetically inclined to this, that, or the other, you might slow its progress by lifestyle changes I suppose; but we all know guys who smoke like troopers and drink like fishes, and like Thomas Wolfe's schoolma'am said about Falstaff, eventually suffer the wages of sin - death at a ripe old age. Ha!

[Moonlover]

A long, boring and, no doubt expensively produced tome, that simply lends credence the old adage:

 

'A little bit of what you fancy does you good'.

 

I shall carry on down my chosen path undisturbed.

 

[overherebc]

Forget the booze and nicotine thing, the actual killer is oxygen and recent studies have shown it takes on average 65 to 95 years to kill you.

[radiochaser]

1 hour ago, overherebc said:

Forget the booze and nicotine thing, the actual killer is oxygen and recent studies have shown it takes on average 65 to 95 years to kill you.

I guess I am going to die then. 

[Cadbury]

23 hours ago, webfact said:

"......those who consume the equivalent of seven glasses of wine or more a week are both more likely than light drinkers to develop dementia in their later years, a long-term study suggests".

So those who consume ONE glass of wine per day are considered heavy drinkers? 

I would suggest that the person who wrote this article is showing signs of dementia themselves. This story can go straight in the rubbish bin.

[Gecko123]

Damn-ment-ed if you do; damn-ment-ed if you don't.

Edited September 28, 2018 by Gecko123