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Moderate Drinking May Cut Dementia Risk -Study
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Moderate drinking may reduce an older person¡¯s risk of developing dementia, a new study suggests. Researchers in the Netherlands found that among the 5,400 older adults they studied, those who had up to three drinks a day were less likely than non-drinkers to develop any type of dementia, including Alzheimer¡¯s disease. And it did not matter whether the alcohol was wine, beer, liquor, or a fortified wine such as sherry. However, the relatively few who said they had four or more drinks in a day saw no such protective effect.
Past research has suggested that a drink or two a day might help ward off the mental decline associated with age. Since evidence also shows light-to-moderate drinking may benefit the heart, investigators speculated that alcohol might similarly help maintain blood flow to the brain by reducing clotting or improving cholesterol levels. Another possibility is that alcohol directly affects mental functioning through the release of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. Substantial evidence indicates that ACH affects learning and memory. Low levels of alcohol stimulate the chemical¡¯s release in humans, while higher alcohol levels inhibit it in studies with rats.
In the study, mentally healthy men and women aged 55 and older were followed for an average of 6 years. During the study, 197 participants developed dementia, most often Alzheimer's disease. Those who had said they drank one to three alcoholic beverages a day were 42% less likely to develop any type of dementia, regardless of the other health factors. They were 70% less likely than non-drinkers to be diagnosed with vascular dementia, an impairment caused by significant reductions in the brain¡¯s blood supply.
In addition, a couple of drinks per day showed a protective effect among people who carried the gene variant ApoE4, which is associated with an increased Alzheimer¡¯s risk. The researchers speculated that alcohol, possibly through improving cholesterol levels, might moderate dementia risk among ApoE4 carriers.
SOURCE: The Lancet 2002;359:281-286 (1/26/02)
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