Brain Health Blog

It might seem irresponsible of me to post twice on the benefits of alcohol consumption, so consider this a continuation of my earlier post on red wine.

The journal Neurology today published evidence indicating that about one drink per day may help people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) delay the onset of dementia. People with MCI exhibit some (mild) impairment in cognitive abilities and are 3-4 times more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease. About 12% of people over the age of 70 have MCI.

This study, conducted by  Solfrizzi et al, followed 121 MCI patients for 3.5 years. Those that consumed about 1 drink per day were significantly less likely to progress to dementia than those that had 0 drinks per day, or those that had more than 1 drink per day.

An important limitation of this study, as well as many descriptive longitudinal studies, is that the subjects were not randomly assigned to 0, 1, or >1 drinking groups. Therefore, the causal relationship is not clearly determined, and it is conceivable - though not terribly likely - that those who are most resistant to dementia prefer 1 drink each day.

For more info, see the press release or abstract.

Cheers!