On Alcohol and Brain Health

Comments from the recent Oxford University study “No safe level of alcohol consumption for brain health”, included:

• “Our study represents one of the largest imaging investigations into the impact of alcohol consumption on brain health …

• “Our findings suggest that there is no safe level of alcohol consumption for brain health …Individuals who binge drink or with high blood pressure and BMI may be more susceptible.

• "Detrimental effects of drinking appear to be greater than other modifiable factors [such as smoking].

• “We found no evidence to suggest alcoholic beverage type confers differences in risks to the brain. This supports the hypothesis that it is ethanol itself, rather than other compounds in the beverage, that is on the biological pathway to damage."

• Note: The study consisted of 25,378 participants in the UK.

Anya Topiwala, the study’s lead author and a researcher in the Neuroimaging Statistics group at the Big Data Institute, said

• "So many people drink 'moderately,' and think this is either harmless or even protective ... the more people drank, the less the volume of their gray matter.

• "Brain volume reduces with age and more severely with dementia. Smaller brain volume also predicts worse performance on memory testing.

• "Knowing about factors that can prevent brain harm is important for public health."

OUR TAKE

• With the global alcoholic beverage market estimated at over $1.5 trillion, the impact of alcohol consumption on global health is broad-based.

• Ensuring better brain health, and personal health in general, requires managing alcohol consumption, obesity, and other lifestyle factors.

• Finally, fitness tracker users are becoming more aware of alcohol's impact on daily performance as their personal data highlights reduced deep sleep, elevated heart rate, and depressed heart rate variability.