Study Explores The Amount Of Alcohol That Increases Dementia Risk — And It's A Lot Lower Than You Think

There is no safe amount of alcohol consumption when it comes to your risk for dementia, according to a recent study.

While past research has suggested that moderate alcohol consumption may even be associated with some health benefits, more recent research has shown that even moderate alcohol consumption is associated with several types of cancers and other health concerns. And the new study published in the BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine journal last month found a relationship between all levels of alcohol use and an increased risk for dementia.

The researchers in the study investigated observational data from nearly 560,000 participants ages 56-72, as well as genetic analyses — used to predict how likely people were to drink alcohol — from data from multiple studies with 2.4 million participants.

The results from the observational data, which relied on self-reported alcohol use, showed that those with higher risk for dementia were heavy drinkers, people with alcohol use disorder and non-drinkers — suggesting that light levels of alcohol consumption may have a protective effect.

But the result of the genetic analyses did not support that finding.