Dementia? Not if you tipple

RISK HIGH IN THOSE WHO’VE SWORN OFF BOOZE ‘But it should not motivate people who do not drink to start drinking.’

People who have sworn off alcohol for decades or longer run a higher risk of dementia late in life than moderate drinkers, according to a new study.

Long-term teetotallers were roughly 50% more likely to suffer Alzheimers or another form of neurodegenerative disease, scientists reported in the BMJ, a medical journal, on Wednesday.

With heavy drinking, however, dementia became even more prevalent, though for different reasons.

Unlike earlier research, the study did not find a link between abstinence and a shorter life expectancy, as compared to occasional drinkers.

The results were based on a review of medical records rather than the more scientifically rigorous clinical trials used to assess new drugs, and the number of cases examined was relatively small.

But the startling results are robust, and should prompt government-funded trials to assess “the possible protective effect of light-to-moderate alcohol use on risk of dementia,” said Sevil Yasar, an associate professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine who was not involved in the study.

At the same time, the study cautioned, the findings “should not motivate people who do not drink to start drinking given the known detrimental effects of alcohol consumption for mortality, neuropsychiatric disorders, cirrhosis of the liver and cancer.”

Worldwide, about 7% of people over 65 suffer from some form of dementia, a percentage that rises to 40% above the age of 85. The number of sufferers is expected to triple by 2050. The research, led by Severine Sabia at the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research, also found that – among moderate drinkers – wine consumption correlated with a lower risk of dementia than beer or spirits, such as whisky, gin or vodka. “Light-to-moderate” drinking was defined, during middle age, as one-to-14 drinks per week, corresponding to the maximum limit recommended for both men and women in Britain.

The 14-drink-per-week maximum is the equivalent of six glasses of wine. – AFP

Long-term teetotallers 50% more likely to suffer.