Light drinking may protect brain function in older people

NEW YORK: It seems like consuming alcohol in older age might not be as bad as we think because researchers have found that light to moderate drinking may preserve brain function in older adults.

The study, examined the link between alcohol consumption and changes in cognitive function over time among middle-aged and older adults in the US.

"We know there are some older people who believe that drinking a little wine every day could maintain a good cognitive condition," said lead author Ruiyuan Zhang from the University of Georgia in the US.

"We wanted to know if drinking a small amount of alcohol actually correlates with a good cognitive function, or is it just a kind of survivor bias," Zhang added.

Regular, moderate alcohol consumption has been shown to promote heart health and some research points to a similar protective benefit for brain health. However, many of these studies were not designed to isolate the effects of alcohol on cognition or did not measure effects over time.

For the current findings, the research team developed a way to track cognition performance over 10 years using participant data from the nationally representative Health and Retirement Study.

"It is hard to say this effect is causal. So, if some people don't drink alcoholic beverages, this study does not encourage them to drink to prevent cognitive function decline," the study authors wrote. (IANS)

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