Alcohol use could contribute to dementia by damaging the brain

• The full effects of drinking are something experts are still trying to understand.
• One study discovered that heavy and former heavy drinking was associated with brain abnormalities like hyaline arteriolosclerosis and neurofibrillary tangles.
• The results also suggested that the effects of alcohol consumption are mediated by hyaline arteriolosclerosis, which may then affect people’s cognitive function.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), drinking alcohol can increase the risk of cancer, and excessive use can increase the risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke. 

One area of ongoing research is how alcohol can affect the brain. Published in Neurology, a recent study explored the impact of alcohol consumption on various aspects of the brain, specifically dementia-related neuropathologies.

It found that moderate, heavy, and former heavy drinking were all associated with hyaline arteriolosclerosis, a distinct thickening and narrowing of the blood vessels that can happen in older people and those with certain health conditions.

Former heavy drinking was also linked to having a lower brain mass ratio and poorer cognitive abilities compared to never drinking. While more research is needed, the results indicate the possible damaging effect of alcohol on the brain.

This study was a cross-sectional population-based autopsy study conducted in Brazil. Researchers were able to examine the brains of 1,781 participants.

These brains were ultimately from the Sao Paulo Autopsy Service and part of the Biobank for Aging Studies. It specifically excludes brain samples where someone died due to trauma.

The average age of participants was around seventy-five years old, and the sample was ethnically diverse. Participants were at least fifty and had a next of kin who had been contacting them at least weekly in the 6 months before their death.

Researchers did exclude some potential participants, including those with major acute brain lesions or those who did not have any data on alcohol consumption.

Researchers were able to gather data from next of kin regarding factors like participants’ medical histories, alcohol consumption, and the presence of dementia.

They divided participants into groups based on the level of alcohol they consumed. There were never drinkers, moderate drinkers, heavy drinkers, and formerly heavy drinkers.

For this research, 1 dose of alcohol was 14 grams (g). Moderate drinkers had up to 7 doses of alcohol in a week, while heavy drinkers had 8 or more doses in a week.

Former heavy drinkers were heavy drinkers who had ceased drinking up to 3 months before their deaths occurred. Of all participants, 965 never consumed alcohol.