Teetotallers, like big drinkers, more prone to dementia

PARIS, ( AFP) - 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 percent 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 defined, during middle age, as one-to-14 effect of light-to-moderate alcohol use drinks per week, corresponding to the on risk of dementia,” commented Sevil maximum limit recommended for both Yasar, an associate professor at the John men and women in Britain. Hopkins School of Medicine who was The 14- drink- per- week maximum -not involved in the study. similar to guidelines in other countries

At the same time, the study cau-- is the equivalent of six medium tioned, the findings “should not moti(175-millilitre) glasses of wine at 13 pervate people who do not drink to start cent alcohol, six pints of four-percent drinking given the known detrimental beer, or 14 25-ml shots of 40-degree spireffects of alcoholits.consumptionformortality, neuropsychiatric disorders, cirrhosis of the liver and cancer.” Worldwide, about seven percent of people over 65 suffer from some form of dementia, a percentage that rises to 40 percent 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 whiskey, gin or vodka.

“Light- to- moderate” drinking was

he study was not set up to explain why non-drinkers might be more prone to cognitive decline, but the findings offered possible clues.

“Some of the excess risk of dementia in abstainers was explained by greater risk of cardiometric disease,” such as stroke, coronary heart disease and diabetes, Sabia and her team concluded.

Non- drinkers canvassed were more likely to be burdened with lifestyle diseases, but the link with dementia held true even after these health problems were taken into account, they reported. This file photo taken on July 4, 2018 shows people drinking beer at a bar in a hutong area on a street in Beijing. AFP / NICOLAS ASFOURI

Because the study only tracked alcohol consumption starting in midlife, it is also possible that a prior history of heavy drinking might have contributed to dementia many decades later, one expert not involved in the study cautioned.

“Future research will need to examine drinking habits across a whole lifetime, and this will help to shed more light on the relationship between alcohol and dementia,” Sara Imarisio, head of research at Alzheimer's Research UK, told the Science Media Centre.

In the case of wine, earlier stud have suggested that so-called polyp nolic compounds may offer some tection to neural networks and bl vessels, but such findings remain troversial.

The findings are based on hea records -- part of the Whitehall II st on long- term health -- for more t 9,000 British civil servants who wer to 55 years old in 1985.

Alcohol intake of participants monitored regularly for two deca and hospital records were examined signs of heart and alcohol-related ease.

A total of nearly 400 dementia cas with onset occurring, on average, at 76 -- were reported.

The study also confirmed that he drinking is strongly linked to demen with a 17- percent increase in risk each additional seven drinks per wee

Chronic heavy drinking has b clearly established as a major risk tor for all types of dementia, especi early onset of the disease.