Even modest alcohol consumption can impact the brain, according to new research that analyzed more than 36,000 MRIs.
Previous studies have identified changes in the size and structure in brains of people who are considered heavy drinkers, but this new research published in Nature Communications is warning that even modest drinking (just a few servings of alcohol per week) has implications.
“We show that the negative associations between alcohol intake and brain macrostructure and microstructure are already apparent in individuals consuming an average of only one to two daily alcohol units, and become stronger as alcohol intake increases,” corresponding author Gideon Nave, assistant professor in the Wharton Neuroscience Initiative at the University of Pennsylvania, and co-authors explained.
Using brain MRIs of 36,678 adults from the UK Biobank, researchers compared any deviations outside of normal brain structure to participants’ self-reported alcohol consumption (units per week/month, type of alcohol, etc.). Controlling for age, height, handedness, sex, smoking status, socioeconomic status, genetic ancestry and county of residence, the participants were grouped based on their average alcohol consumption levels.
The researchers found that increasing alcohol intake from one to just two units per day resulted in a change in brain volume, noting reductions of both gray and white matter in these participants. Though the findings were not exclusive to any one region of the brain, the most extensive variances were observed in the frontal, parietal, and insular cortices.
The experts took their research one step further by comparing alcohol-related brain volume reductions to changes in the brain that occur due to aging. This enabled them to estimate how increased alcohol consumption impacts brain age. Based on their approximations, drinking one glass of beer or wine every day is the equivalent of two years of aging on the brain, and the impacts increase in relation to consumption levels.
“Most of these negative associations are apparent in individuals consuming an average of only one to two daily alcohol units,” the experts wrote. “Thus, this multimodal imaging study highlights the potential for even moderate drinking to be associated with changes in brain volume in middle-aged and older adults.”
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In addition to her background in journalism, Hannah also has patient-facing experience in clinical settings, having spent more than 12 years working as a registered rad tech. She joined Innovate Healthcare in 2021 and has since put her unique expertise to use in her editorial role with Health Imaging.