1d • General discussion
More showing even moderate drinking accelerates brain aging.
My posts on alcohol get a lot of engagement.
Lots of questions. Lots of pushback.
Here's the deeper dive you asked for.
The data keeps getting worse for alcohol and brain health.
Even moderate drinking.
What we know now:
7+ drinks per week associated with brain atrophy on MRI.
14+ drinks per week: significant white matter damage.
No amount appears protective despite earlier studies claiming benefits.
The "French paradox" was mostly confounded by other factors.
How alcohol damages the brain:
Direct neurotoxicity - ethanol kills brain cells.
Oxidative stress - generates free radicals that damage DNA.
Inflammation - chronic low-level brain inflammation.
Thiamine deficiency - disrupts energy metabolism in neurons.
Disrupted sleep architecture - prevents brain waste clearance.
All accelerate cognitive aging.
The dementia risk:
Heavy drinking (21+ drinks/week): dramatically increased risk.
Moderate drinking (7-14/week): modest increased risk.
Light drinking (1-6/week): unclear, possibly slight increased risk.
No drinking: baseline risk.
The dose-response is pretty clear.
More alcohol = more risk.
But what about the studies showing benefits?
Confounding.
Non-drinkers in those studies included former heavy drinkers who quit due to health problems.
Made non-drinking look worse than it was.
When you separate lifelong abstainers from former drinkers, the protective effect disappears.
Alcohol provides zero cognitive benefit.
What about red wine and resveratrol?
Resveratrol in wine: too low to have biological effect.
You'd need to drink 1,000 bottles to match the dose used in mouse studies.
The benefits attributed to wine are likely from:
Healthier overall lifestyle of wine drinkers
Mediterranean diet (not the wine itself)
Social connection during meals
Can be achieved without alcohol.
The question I get most:
"So I should never drink?"
I'm not saying that.
I'm saying understand the tradeoff.
Social enjoyment vs brain health.
Personal values vs risk tolerance.
But don't drink thinking it's protective.
It's not.
What I do:
I drink occasionally. Socially.
Maybe 2-3 drinks per month.
I know it's not helping my brain.
I accept that trade for social enjoyment and because there are drinks I enjoy.
But I'm not pretending it's health-promoting.
The advice:
If you don't drink: don't start for brain health.
If you drink daily: consider cutting back.
If you drink moderately: understand it's not zero-risk.
If you drink heavily: brain damage is happening.
The honest conversation:
Alcohol is neurotoxic.
Period.
Any amount has some risk.
The risk increases with dose.
Heavy use causes dementia directly.
Moderate use accelerates brain aging.
These are facts.
What you do with them is personal choice.
But make it informed choice.
💬 Did this change how you think about alcohol?
0
0 comments
More showing even moderate drinking accelerates brain aging.
skool.com/dementia-lifeboat
Dementia Care Support & Expert Guidance.
Leaderboard (30-day)
1
+1
2
+1
3
+1
Powered by