Consuming alcohol regularly, even in small quantities, would reduce brain size, American researchers concluded in a study published last week.
Although it has long been well known that the consumption of large quantities of alcohol can reduce the amount of gray and white matter found in our cranial boxes, scientists from the University of Pennsylvania have succeeded in demonstrating that this correlation also exists even for light drinkers.
So, on average, for a 50-year-old adult, consuming two units of alcohol a day – the equivalent of a pint of pint beer – over a long period of time has the effect of aging the brain by two years older than someone who limits himself to one unit of alcohol a day.
People aged 50 who consume three units of alcohol a day, on average, had a brain 3.5 times older.
To observe these changes, the researchers based their analysis on studying 36,000 people, screening their drinking habits and brain size, measured using magnetic resonance imaging. .
“Having this array of data is like having a microscope or a telescope with a more powerful lens,” imaged one of the authors, Gideon Nave, in a University of Pennsylvania paper about the study.
“Our findings contrast with scientific and government recommendations on drinking limits,” another of the researchers, Henry Kranzler, who directs the school’s Center for Addiction Studies, noted in a University of Pennsylvania paper. of Medicine from Penn’s Perelman.
The US government recommends not to exceed one consumption per day for women and two for men, quantities which are already enough to damage the brain according to the results of the researchers.
The study was published in the journal “Nature Communications” on Friday.
Reference-www.journaldemontreal.com