There is no safe drinking...Alcohol Dependence Increases Risk of Dementia by 51%
Sep 25, 2025
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The UK and US joint researchers emphasized this based on the results of a study on the link between alcohol consumption and the risk of developing dementia. The results of the study were recently published in the online edition of the international journal 'BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine'.
A research team from Oxford University, Cambridge University, and Yale University tracked the health records of 559,559 adults in the UK and the United States and found that the higher the amount of alcohol consumed, the higher the risk of developing dementia.
During the four-year study period, 14,540 people were diagnosed with dementia, and those who drank more than 40 cups per week had a 41% higher risk of dementia than those who drank less than 7 cups per week. In the case of alcohol dependence, the risk of dementia soared to 51%.
The researchers also reviewed the data of 2.4 million people through genome association analysis (GWAS).
As a result, people with twice as high an alcohol-dependent genetic risk increased their risk of developing dementia by 16%, and no evidence was found that small amounts of drinking were beneficial to brain health. Rather, it was confirmed that the risk of dementia steadily increased as the amount of alcohol consumed increased.
The researchers emphasized that "a small amount of drinking is a result of reversing some claims that it is beneficial to brain health" and "even light drinking can increase the risk of dementia.' There was also a medical perception at one time that mild drinking was good for brain health, but this study shows that it was wrong.
However, experts who did not participate in the study pointed out that there are limitations depending on subjective alcohol consumption surveys and incomplete genetic indicators. However, in the absence of a fundamental or slowing treatment for dementia at the moment, reducing alcohol consumption can be an important strategy to protect brain health", he said, expressing some sympathy.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that about 3 million people die from alcohol around the world every year.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
