A study claims that drinking just a glass of wine or a pint of beer each night in middle-age may age your brain by two years. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania analysed MRI scans of 36,000 adults to calculate their brain size and then compared the alcohol intake of the volunteers. The results suggested that a 50-year-old who drank one unit a day would have a brain six months older than if they kept off the booze. The scientists found that the link grew even stronger the more people drank.
Data derived from the study implied that middle-aged adults who consumed two units a day, one medium-sized glass of red or white wine, had a brain two-and-a-half years older. Increasing the number of units to four per day resulted in extra 10 years of aging as compared to maintaining abstinence. One of the researchers, Prof Remi Daviet said, “Cutting back on the final drink of the night might have a big effect in terms of brain aging.”
Lead author Professor Gideon Nave, a neuroscientist said, “Having this dataset is like having a microscope or a telescope with a more powerful lens. You get a better resolution and start seeing patterns and associations you couldn’t before. The fact 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.”
The team checked MRI scan records of patients aged between 40 and 69 to see how much white and grey matter they had in the brain. One scan was used for each individual. Grey matter is referred to the main part of the brain that processes information, whereas white matter acts as the line of communication. They asked participants how much they drank, from nothing to four units a day. The team controlled other factors that may affect the results, including age, height, sex, smoking status, income, and genetic ancestry.
