A new study found that light alcohol consumption for drinkers over 60 is linked to a better memory.
A team of researchers from the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in Galveston, the University of Kentucky and the University of Maryland conducted the study and published their findings in the American Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Dementias.
Postdoctoral trainee at UTMB Brian Downer is the lead author of the study and said they focused on alcohol consumption, cognitive functioning and brain volume in older adults. They based the study on the data collected previously by the Framingham Heart Study, which involved over 600 participants, and analyzed it.
“Older adults who were classified as light to moderate alcohol consumers, these are people who are consuming usually one to two drinks per day,” Downer said. “These people tended to have higher memory, and also larger hippocampal volumes compared to older adults who did not consume alcohol.”
To him, the findings show that light to moderate alcohol consumption can be incorporated into an overall healthy lifestyle.
According to Downer, this beneficial relationship between light alcohol consumption and a better memory could be explained in several ways. But first, he underlined the fact that it is only showing a beneficial effect on healthy older adults.
“It’s important to keep in mind that these results aren’t necessarily advocating alcohol consumption,” Downer said.
Older people with certain health conditions or taking medications should abstain from consuming alcohol due to the interference it can produce, and Downer said light to moderate alcohol consumers tend to therefore be healthier than abstainers.
He explained that previous studies have found that light to moderate alcohol consumption may trigger the release of specific proteins in the brain that are beneficial for brain health and memory, which could be another explanation to this beneficial relationship.
“People who consume light to moderate amounts of alcohol tend to do so in a social setting and there may be also benefits to cognition by engaging in a mentally stimulating environment,” he said.
Downer said further research need to look at how memory and the hippocampal volume change over time, and if these changes would be related to a person’s level of alcohol consumption.