Study Finds Reducing Alcohol Consumption Can Mean Decreasing Our Risk for Dementia

Memory loss and drinking have always been closely associated with one another (and not in the fun black-out drunk kind of way either). Alcohol can damage the brain cells, and that's a proven fact at this point. A new study by researchers from South Korea proves this yet again. Some of its insights confirm that it might be best to take it easy on the alcohol. Like, way easier, but not too quickly, they say, if we want to preserve our cognitive function. It sounds confusing, we know.

Dr. Keun Hye Jeon, and his colleagues, have concluded based on their research that maintaining moderate alcohol consumption is associated with a decreased risk of dementia. This basically means that the heavier we drink, the more we increase the likelihood for the disease.

They had worked with the Korean National Health Insurance Service and took on a sample size of roughly four million South Koreans to come up with the conclusion. Each of them had been categorized under four drinking classes: none, mild (less one drink per day), moderate (one to two drinks per day), and heavy (more than two drinks per day). Each had also been given a questionnaire to asses their habits and medical history.

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The study even finds that drinkers who increased consumption and those who quit cold turkey had higher risk of dementia than those who practiced moderation. "Quitters from any level of alcohol consumption showed higher risk of all-cause dementia compared with those who sustained the same level of drinking," reads the paper.

Researchers also warn us that the higher dementia risks of people who quit drinking in their study "are suspected to be primarily attributed to the sick quitter effect, which is defined as a person quitting (or reducing) a certain hazardous activity because of health issues."

Jeon notes that they discovered that those who went from hard drinkers to moderate drinkers were found to have an eight percent decrease in risk for dementia and a 12-percent decrease in risk for Alzheimer's disease. Even small reductions can make the biggest difference.

So for people who haven't actually started drinking yet, consider yourselves lucky. Don't start doing this cool thing we love. Just don't.