Contributed by Carla Sharetto| 21 January, 2005 02:08 GMT
Moderate consumption of alcohol -- defined as one drink per day -- might provide older women some cognitive benefits, new research suggests.
Moderate consumption of alcohol helps older women maintain healthy cognitive functioning, suggests new research. However, the beneficial effect is not observed among women who drink more than one serving of wine, beer or hard liquor per day -- the type of alcohol doesn't seem to matter -- or those who don't drink at all.In an analysis of data from the Nurses' Health Study, researchers at
Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) and
Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) found that compared to women who were nondrinkers, older women who consumed one drink per day experienced a 20 percent reduced risk of cognitive impairment.
Their findings are published in the January 20, 2005, issue of the
New England Journal of Medicine.
Alcohol-Brain Link Little Understood
"Much evidence has demonstrated the heart benefits of light alcohol drinking, but less research has focused on cognitive functioning," says BWH's Francine Grodstein, ScD, senior author, "While we all continue to recommend exercising caution when consuming any type of alcohol, our study suggests that moderate consumption might provide older women some cognitive benefits. Additional research needs to be conducted to better understand the links between alcohol and cognitive function."
Researchers reviewed data from 12,480 women, 70 to 81-years-old, who participated in the Nurse's Health Study. First, alcohol consumption data was collected as part of food-frequency questionnaires issued every few years between 1980 and 1998. Alcohol intake was measured in grams of beer, wine and liquor, with moderate consumption -- one glass per day -- defined as less than 15 grams per day.
Moderate Drinking Helps Memory
Then, from 1995-2002, women participated in telephone-based cognitive surveys in which general cognition and verbal memory and fluency were evaluated. Women who were classified as moderate drinkers -- those who consumed less than 15 grams of alcohol per day -- had better mean cognitive scores than nondrinkers.
In addition, researchers found no significant difference in cognitive functioning among the nondrinkers and those who consumed more than one drink per day. Also, there did not seem to be any substantial difference in the effects of different forms of alcoholic beverages.
"These findings add to the results of previous studies which assessed alcohol consumption and cognitive functioning," said HSPH's Meir Stampfer, MD. "Given our large study population, this body of research is now powerful enough to suggest continued research to ultimately better understand the impact moderate alcohol has on cognitive function." |
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