Why alcohol is so bad for the brain and how any amount increases dementia risk

A sobering new report led by the University of Oxford in the UK suggests that having any amount of alcohol may increase the risk of dementia.

Researchers from Yale University in the US and the University of Cambridge in the UK also took part in the research that challenges previous suggestions that light to moderate drinking may have a protective effect against dementia.

The study, published in BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine, combined data from more than half a million participants in two large and diverse population studies: the US Million Veteran Programme and UK Biobank. It assessed whether self-reported alcohol use was linked with the risk of developing a broad range of types of dementia.

The study’s lead author, Anya Topiwala of the Nuffield Department of Population Health at Oxford University and a consultant psychiatrist, explains that alcohol contains the neurotoxin ethanol.

“It kills brain cells,” she stresses.