Drinking up to two bottles of beer or small glasses of wine per day may LOWER ... trends now
Drinking up to two cans of beer or glasses of wine a day may lower your risk of suffering from dementia, a major study suggests.
Researchers in South Korea analyzed health data from four million people in the country who were tracked for up to eight years.
Those who had one can of beer or glass of wine a day had a 21 percent lower risk of dementia compared to nondrinkers, while those who had two daily drinks had a 17 percent lower risk. But anyone consuming alcohol in higher amounts — three or more drinks a day — had an eight percent higher risk.
The researchers suggested alcohol in lower amounts can protect against dementia because it reduces inflammation in the brain and blood thickness, allowing blood to flow better.
But the study could not conclusively prove that alcohol was triggering the reduction in risk of dementia, rather than another factor like diet or genetics. It also relied on participants self-reporting how often they consumed alcohol.
A study has suggested that drinking two glasses of wine or having two cans of beer a day can protect against dementia
The authors pointed out that the downsides of alcohol outweigh any small benefits.
Previous studies have warned that drinking alcohol can raise the risk of cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure and weaken the immune system.
It comes after Canadian authorities insisted people should not drink more than two bottles of beer or glasses of wine a week, prompting some experts to blast them as 'useless' and eroding trust in public health officials.
The CDC says that women should not consume more than ten bottles of beer or glasses of wine a week — equivalent to about 1.4 a day. Men should not have above 15, they add — or 2.1 per day.
In the latest study — published today in JAMA Network Open — researchers looked at the health records of healthy adults in South Korea.
Data was extracted from the country's National Health Insurance Service database, which offers a free health exam to insured Koreans over the age of 40 twice a year.
Participants were about 55 years old on average, and none had dementia at the start of the study.
Each completed a health assessment between 2009 and 2011, where they were asked about how many days a week they drank alcohol and in what quantity.
They also returned in 2018, about seven to eight years later, and answered the same questions on alcohol consumption as well as whether they had been diagnosed with dementia.
Participants were split into four groups: Nondrinkers, mild drinkers (who had less than 15 grams (g) of alcohol a day, or about one drink), moderate drinkers (who had 15 to 30g of alcohol), and heavy drinkers (those consuming more than 30g daily).
In the U.S., the CDC considers a standard drink to contain about 14 grams of alcohol.
This is equivalent to a 12-ounce can of beer, a five-ounce glass of wine, or a 1.5-ounce shot of distilled spirits.
Throughout the study, there were 100,000
