No safe level of alcohol consumption for brain health
No amount of alcohol has been found to be safe for the brain. Moderate alcohol consumption isassociated with a wider range of adverse brain effects than previously recognized.It has been recognized that People who binge drink, have high blood pressure or a high BMI are
Available under a CC-BY 4.0 International License.
The author(s)/founder(s) of this article have granted medRxiv a perpetual license to display this article (without peer review).
medRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.05.10.21256931; this version posted May 12, 2021. The copyright holder of this preprint
may be more susceptible. The harmful effects of alcohol consumption appear to be greater than other modifiable factors.
The harmful effects of drinking appear to be greater than other modifiable factors. Current "low-risk" drinking guidelines are
should be reviewed in light of their effects on the brain.
No safe level of alcohol consumption for brain health: an observational cohort study of 25,378 UKBiobank participants
Anya Topiwala, Klaus P. Ebmeier, Thomas Maullin-Sapey, and Thomas E. Nichols
medRxiv 2021.05.10.21256931; Doi: https: //doi.org/10.1101/2021.05.10.21256931
Explanation
The purpose of this preprent study was to estimate the relationship between moderate alcohol consumption and brain health, to determine the threshold intake for harm and to determine whether population subgroups are at different risk.
The study was an
An observational cohort study was employed and alcohol intake was measured at baseline using the
determined at the assessment visit using a touch-screen questionnaire (2016-10).
It included 25,378 participants (mean age 54.9 ± 7.4 years) and assessed brain health as defined by structural and functional MRI brain measures.
Results showed that there was a negative linear relationship between alcohol intake and overall brain gray matter volume. This was also negatively correlated. (β=-0.1, 95% CI=-0.11 to -0.09, p<2x10-16)
Because the association between alcohol and brain structure was stronger than the other modifiable factors tested, and robust to unobserved confounding, there was an extensive negative correlation with white matter microstructure.
This was positively correlated with white matter microstructure (β = -0.08, 95% CI = -0.09 to -0.06, p < 2x10-16) functional connectivity. It has also been reported that higher blood pressure and obesity levels are associated with an increased risk of alcohol-related disorders.
For alcohol dependence, in addition to absolute intake, there were additional negative effects on brain structure, and they found no evidence of differences in the effects of different types of alcohol, such as wine or beer.As this is a non-peer-reviewed research paper, it is possible that the results may be overturned or that these may be retracted at a later date. Therefore, please understand that this is not a clinical evaluation.
