Drink and thrive: Moderate alcohol use reduces dementia risk
By Ben Harder
Alcohol doesnt often get billed as a brain food, but new research suggests that booze offers at least one cerebral benefit. It may reduce aging drinkers risk of developing Alzheimers disease and other forms of dementia.
Although extreme alcohol consumption kills brain cells, theres contradictory evidence about whether long-term drinking has permanent effects on cognitive abilities such as reasoning and memory. Prolonged, excessive drinking can lead to the liver disease cirrhosis and may contribute to breast cancer risk, however. Drinking is also responsible for many accidental injuries and deaths.