Heavy drinking and dementia

Heavy drinking is clearly not good for anyone – and now we must add another risk: early dementia.

In March, a French study, which looked at data on millions of people discharged from hospital from 2008 to 2013, found well over half of patients diagnosed with dementia before the age of 65 had alcohol dependency or had been hospitalised with an alcohol-related condition.

Heavy drinking is associated with other risk factors for dementia, such as smoking – but it clearly damages the brain, and the study said it probably has a “much larger” role in dementia than previously believed.

As for moderate drinking, it’s hardly safe either. In April, a major study into the impact on life expectancy of light drinking concluded having just one glass of wine five times a week robs a 40-year-old of six months of life.