UPDATE: |Exact number of weekly alcoholic drinks scientists have linked to brain damage News

Consuming more than a certain number of drinks a week is linked to signs of brain injury, a new study has found

Heavy drinking is a major public health concern linked to a whole host of diseases like heart disease, stroke, cancers, and even death.

Drinking too much can also put people at risk of brain damage, causing cognitive changes that impact thinking and memory, and potentially triggering “dementia-like” symptoms.

New research has now pinpointed the minimum weekly number of alcoholic drinks that can raise a person’s risk of a type of brain injury linked to memory and thinking problems.

The study, which looked at a postmortem analysis of more than 1,700 people, found that heavy drinking was associated with a much higher likelihood of having brain lesions called hyaline arteriolosclerosis, which are associated with memory and cognitive problems.

In fact, the research found that those who had eight or more drinks a week had a whopping 133 per cent higher chance of having these lesions. Former heavy drinkers had 89 per cent higher odds, suggesting that drinking too much has lasting effects on the brain.

Study author Alberto Fernando Oliveira Justo, PhD, of University of Sao Paulo Medical School in Brazil, said: “Heavy alcohol consumption is a major global health concern linked to increased health problems and death.

“We looked at how alcohol affects the brain as people get older. Our research shows that heavy alcohol consumption is damaging to the brain, which can lead to memory and thinking problems.”

It’s important to note that the study does not prove that heavy drinking causes brain injury; it simply shows that the two are linked.

The researchers compared brain tissue of participants, who had an average age of 75 at death, with data about their alcohol consumption given by family members.

Researchers defined one drink as having 14 grams of alcohol, which is about 350 milliliters (ml) of beer. A British pint is 568 ml. This roughly equates to a small glass (150 ml) of wine and a shot (45 ml) of distilled spirits.

After adjusting for other factors affecting brain health, such as age at death, smoking, and physical activity, heavy drinkers had a 133 per cent higher chance of having vascular brain lesions and a 41 per cent higher chance of having a biomarker linked to Alzheimer’s disease.

The study also found that heavy drinkers died an average of 13 years earlier than those who never drank.

“We found heavy drinking is directly linked to signs of injury in the brain, and this can cause long-term effects on brain health, which may impact memory and thinking abilities,” said Justo. “Understanding these effects is crucial for public health awareness and continuing to implement preventive measures to reduce heavy drinking.”

However, the study is limited by its reliance on data from family members, which might not be entirely reliable. It also did not have data about the participant’s memory and thinking abilities before death. More research is needed to fully understand the effects of heavy drinking on signs of brain injury.

The study was published in the journal the American Academy of Neurology.