Drinking leads to shrinking, brain study suggests
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
CBC News
Alcohol may have a protective effect on the heart, but not the brain, a study suggests. (CBC)Consuming even small amounts of alcohol seems to shrink the brain, researchers have found.
Moderate alcohol consumption has been linked to a lower risk of cardiovascular disease, leading researchers to investigate whether it also slows aging-related declines in brain volume.
But it turned out that people who drink more showed more brain shrinkage, Carol Ann Paul of Wellesley College in Massachusetts and her colleagues report in the October issue of Archives of Neurology.
"It's been known that people who drink a lot have a decline in brain volume. What I was looking for was a protective effect in people who drink one to seven glasses a week," Paul says.
"My expectation is that it would [be protective]. And it didn't turn out that way."
As we age, our brain volume decreases at an estimated rate of 1.9 per cent per decade, the study notes. At the same time, the brain accumulates white-matter lesions that may occur in cases of dementia and cognitive decline.
The researchers analyzed data on 1,839 American adults aged 33 to 88 who reported their alcohol consumption and had magnetic resonance imaging scans to examine brain volume, along with medical exams.
None of the participants in the continuing Framingham Offspring Study showed evidence of clinical dementia or stroke.
Participants were divided into five groups: abstainers, former drinkers, and low, moderate and high consumers.
No protective effect found
Among those who drank the most, more than 14 drinks a week, the brain was one per cent smaller on average, compared with abstainers, the researchers found, after correcting for head size, age, sex, education, height, body mass index and stroke risk.
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