Moderate drinking is defined as less than two drinks for men and less than one drink for women per day. However, a 2017 study found that even moderate amounts of alcohol consumption over many years lead to shrinkage of an area of the brain involved in the formation of new memory (the hippocampus). The scientists could not definitively conclude whether this change was due to a temporary shift in cellular fluid versus actual cell death. While light or moderate drinking may protect against the development of Alzheimer’s disease, chronic alcohol use over an extended period can cause irreversible brain damage. This excessive consumption puts a person at risk of various brain diseases, including AD, stroke, and heart disease. Research has found a link between drinking too much alcohol and an increased risk of dementia.

• Alcohol-related dementia is a type of brain disorder where a person develops issues with thinking or processing and memory.
• In this systematic review, we take a sex-specific perspective towards the alcohol-dementia link, taking into account the age of dementia onset.
• For reference, one unit is considered a half pint of beer or a small glass of wine.

Level of alcohol use and the risk of MCI

• Several high-profile reviews looked at the research into alcohol and dementia risk.
• Other factors that have links to the development of dementia may include infections, such as HIV or neurosyphilis, or thyroid disorders.
• Risk of bias was evaluated for each report concerning study population, methods, and presentation of results.
• Individuals may also be irritable, have sudden outbursts, and have issues with coordination and balance.

All of the information gathered during the diagnostic process will also help them link between alcohol and dementia rule out other types of dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease or vascular dementia. Many of the deficits caused by brain atrophy are similar to those seen in alcoholic dementia. MRI brain scans show that alcohol use causes certain parts of the brain to shrink over time. This means it’s challenging to learn new information and remember things already learned. All data and the corresponding R code 34 used to quantify the contribution of high-risk alcohol use to dementia (including estimation of uncertainty intervals) have been made publicly available 35.

• You should discuss your intentions with your healthcare provider, who can work with you to help plan your next steps toward recovery.
• However, a person will likely need to take thiamine supplements and stop or significantly cut back on alcohol consumption for the best results.
• Nevertheless, the use of alcohol dependence as aninstrumental variable should address this issue.
• It isn’t easy to cope with alcohol-related dementia, but there are resources that can help.

How we reviewed this article:

Future studies should use alterative study designs and account foradditional confounders when evaluating the causal relationship between alcoholconsumption and AD. TheSNP-exposures association estimates have been recoded in order to make theSNP-exposure associations positive to facilitate interpretation. Regressionlines represent the causal effect of the exposure on the outcome using IVW,MR-Egger and Weighted median to estimate the causal effects. There are some lifestyle behaviours with enough evidence to show that changing them will reduce your risk of dementia. A lifelong approach to good health is the best way to lower your risk of dementia. Many studies support the strong link between alcohol use and Alzheimer’s disease.

How does alcohol increase dementia risk?

People who regularly drink more than 21 units of alcohol a week are more likely to develop dementia compared to people who drink less than 14 units. In the present study, we evaluated the association between comprehensive patterns of changes in alcohol consumption and the risk of dementia stratified by the initial amount of alcohol consumption using a large sample of a representative Korean population. However, all prior findings have been conducted in observational studiesthat assume no confounders influence the reported results and are limited byselection bias, an underlying illness-death structure, and the heterogeneous natureof the abstainer comparison group.

Alcohol Effects on the Central Nervous System

In this nationwide cohort study, we found that sustained mild drinkers had a 21% decreased risk of all-cause dementia, and sustained moderate drinkers had a 17% decreased risk of all-cause dementia compared with sustained nondrinkers, whereas sustained heavy drinkers had an 8% increased risk. Subgroup analysis using information from a third examination showed consistent findings regarding a subsequent change in drinking level, supporting the robustness of our results. The hazard ratio for abstinence compared to consumption of 1–14 drinks per week for developing any kind of dementia was 1.47, after adjusting for confounders (extensive assessment of sociodemographic data and cardiovascular health data).

This research should concentrate on early-onset dementia and distinguish between different types of dementia and https://ecosoberhouse.com/ between different forms of high-risk drinking including AUD. To correct for potential biases of subjective reporting, biomarkers may serve to measure longer-term exposure to high-risk alcohol use 55. Future research should also assess the APOE4 genotype more systematically, given that two of the identified studies support its potential moderating role in the alcohol-dementia relationship, however, without considering sex 38, 42. In our study, nondrinkers seemed to have other risk factors, including being older and lower income.

Neuropathology and Neuro-Imaging Studies

One study found that 50% of patients with an alcohol-related Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome were expected to die within 8 years of a Wernicke’s encephalopathy episode; the main causes of death were cancer and bacterial infections. Remarkably, at the same time, they can seem to be in total possession of most of their faculties, able to reason well, draw correct deductions, make witty remarks, or play games that require mental skills, such as chess or cards. This makes alcohol-related dementia easy to hide for some people, and difficult to diagnose at times. Alcohol-related dementia is similar in some ways to Alzheimer’s disease in that it affects memory and cognitive ability. Long-term alcohol use may lead to Alzheimer’s disease (AD), a type of dementia that affects more than six million Americans. And although the likelihood of having dementia also increases with age, it is not a typical part of aging.