Just one or two alcoholic drinks a day may trigger memory problems in old age: researcher
Drinking within current recommended limits of just one or two units a day may be enough to cause memory problems in old age, researchers have warned
7:00AM BST 30 Jul 2014
Healthwise
Drinking just one or two glasses of wine a day may double the risk of severe memory loss in old age, according to researchers.
Scientists from Exeter University have found that people with a history of alcohol use disorder, which can include those drinking within recommended limits, are twice as likely to have severe memory problems in subsequent years.
They warn that sticking to recommended limits - one or two units per day for women and three to four for men - may hide the fact that some people have a drink problem that will damage their health long-term.
The findings come after a survey showed that almost one in five over-65s drink alcohol at home every day and 42 per cent do so several times a week, where as just over one in 10 people aged 18 to 24 indulge in a daily drink at home and less than a third do so twice a week or more.
In the latest study, more than 6,000 middle aged people answered a simple questionnaire about their drinking habits and were tracked for up to 19 years and given tests to establish their memory and thinking ability over time.
Answering yes to one of three questions meant they were classified as having a history of 'alcohol use disorder'.
The questions, relating to any point in their lives, were:
Have people annoyed you by criticising your drinking?
Have you ever felt bad or guilty about your drinking?
Have you ever had a drink first thing in the morning to steady your nerves or get rid of a hangover?
Lead author Dr Ian Lang said: "Answering yes to any of the questions suggests you need to cut down no matter how much you are drinking.
"Using a purely numerical measure of alcohol units for the recommended limits might be ignoring that people can drink at that level and still experience problems."
He said brain damage caused by drinking, even at moderate levels, may be permanent.
"This finding – that middle-aged people with a history of problem drinking more than double their chances of memory impairment when they are older – suggests three things: that this is a public health issue that needs to be addressed; that more research is required to investigate the potential harms associated with alcohol consumption throughout life; and that the CAGE questionnaire may offer doctors a practical way to identify those at risk of memory/cognitive impairment and who may benefit from help to tackle their relationship with alcohol."
The study asked 6,542 adults aged between 51 and 61 in 1992 about their drinking habits. They had cognitive tests every other year between 2006 and 2010 during which time 90 participants experienced severe thinking impairment and 74 participants experienced severe memory impairment.
Those who answered yes to at least one of the questions were twice as likely to develop memory problems it was found.
The study showed that anyone who consumed more than one drink per day at the beginning of the study was more likely to answer yes in the questionnaire and be classed as having a history of 'alcohol use disorder'.
The findings were published in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.
Dr Doug Brown, Director of Research and Development at Alzheimer's Society said: "When we talk about drinking too much, the media often focuses on young people ending up in A&E after a night out.
"However, there's also a hidden cost of alcohol abuse given the mounting evidence that alcohol abuse can also impact on cognition later in life.
"This small study shows that people who admitted to alcohol abuse at some point in their lives were twice as likely to have severe memory problems, and as the research relied on self-reporting that number may be even higher.
"This isn't to say that people need to abstain from alcohol altogether. As well as eating a healthy diet, not smoking and maintaining a healthy weight, the odd glass of red wine could even help reduce your risk of developing dementia."
