How drinking affects your dementia risk
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Researchers are still investigating what alcohol does to the brain and what, if any, amount is safe.
PHOTO: RICARDO TOMAS/NYTIMES
Dana G. Smith
- Heavy drinking clearly raises dementia risk and can harm the brain through inflammation, blood vessel damage and vitamin B1 deficiency.
- Earlier studies suggested light drinking might protect the brain, but experts now say this is likely misleading.
- Newer research links even low alcohol use to smaller brain volume and worse thinking, and some scientists now see risk rising with any drinking.
AI generated
NEW YORK – In 2003, a study published in the prestigious Journal of the American Medical Association reported that having two or more alcoholic beverages a day was associated with a 22% increased risk of dementia.
But people who drank less than that had up to a 54% lower risk, compared with those who did not drink at all.